by TONY JIN
China’s wine consumption more than doubled to 1.16 billion bottles in 2009 from 2005, according to a report by Vinexpo, a leading French wine fair operator. Vinexpo has forecasted China’s wine consumption will grow 19.6% annually between 2010 and 2014 to become the world’s sixth biggest consumer of wine.
Despite the tremendous growth in wine consumption China’s per capita consumption of wine is currently less than one liter per year, leaving much room for growth, noted Vinexpo executive director Robert Beynat.
Red wine accounts for 90% of wine sales in China, said the report.
Imported wine from France increased six fold from 2005 through 2009 and accounted for 41.8% of China’s total wine imports, said the report. Australian wine was second, followed by Chile.
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