China Wine Importers
Since Chinese Premier Li Peng praised the health benefits of wine
during the National People’s Congress in 1996, China’s growing
economy and consumer population of wine drinking have attracted
wineries from around the globe trying to gain a foothold. With 52
million wine drinkers and a total population of 1.44 billion, the
growth potential of imported wines in China is enormous.
There are more than 4,000 bottled wine importers according to the
data of Chinese Custom. Among them there are about 70 wine
importers with annual revenues above US$ 5 million. Although the
soft consumer demand and a slowing economy, there are still more
than 10,000 wine importers, wholesalers and retailers in the huge
Chinese wine market.
Imported Wine in China Country Ranking (Value in US Dollar) 2021.1-11 |
Ranking | Trading partner | US Dollar |
1 | France | 240,038,990 |
2 | Chile | 148,642,871 |
3 | Italy | 72,678,768 |
4 | Spain | 67,960,714 |
5 | South Africa | 17,911,395 |
6 | Argentina | 12,472,447 |
7 | Germany | 12,385,597 |
8 | Australia | 12,372,188 |
9 | U.S.A | 11,487,642 |
10 | Portugal | 9,532,041 |
11 | New Zealand | 8,599,260 |
12 | Georgia | 5,780,601 |
13 | Canada | 4,855,061 |
14 | Moldova | 4,227,091 |
There are many specialized Chinese wine importers that focusing on
country-specific wines only. Many of them are also recently-founded
wine importers – for example Bruto – which specialize in organic
and natural wines and call itself China's first natural wine
E-commerce platform.
Along with wine importers, in China supermarkets are another
important channel for the country’s wine sales. Traditional
supermarket chain stores like RTmart (www.rt-mart.com.cn), Yonghui
Superstores, Vanguard and Walmart sell foreign wines ranging from
US$ 5 to over $100 per bottle.
Online wine business has played an increasingly important part in
driving wine sales. A few years ago, only around 5% of wines in
China were sold online; today this has expanded to more than 30%,
according to IWSR. New player like Hema Superstores owned by the
country’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba) is selling a lot of
imported food and wines. China tech giant Tencent invested also in
some wine companies which provide online wine order and delivery
service.