How can you take advantage of the soaring Chinese wine consumption?

The Chinese wine consumption market is booming

Within only three years, the wine industry in China drastically soared. Wine Intelligence forecast 25 million of wine consumers in China but it is indeed 45 million of Chinese that drink wine regularly. In fact, it is no longer an elite trend or something reserved to a few, it is now being part of a lot of young and active people lifes.

In 2013, Chinese became the first consumer of red wine in the world with 1.865 billion bottles consumed. It is a 136% increase compared to 2008. Nevertheless, it “only”stays the 5^th largest consumer of wine in general and the consumption per capita is still low (1,12L) compare to France (54L) or Spain (49L) due to the large population.

If wine used to be a symbol of accomplishment and prestige with exorbitant price tags we can now see more affordable price thanks to the help of e-commerce and a globalised palates.

So who are those new consumers ?

The rise of urban citizens mainly help the growth of this consumption. Especially in cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen or even Hangzhou. Educated and well behave Chinese in their 20s and 30s are attracted by this sophisticated product that enjoys a status symbol and a reputation. People now rather opt for a glass of wine than a beer, some tea or baiju, which still represent 38% of the market share in the alcohol industry.

The help of Internet

The wine consumption’s growth is also drive by lower prices. For exemple in Hong Kong which is the main duties axe of the country. Retailers don’t hesitate to overstock as well. Indeed, thanks to the convenience of the e-commerce, they can be sure to have enough visibility to sell their stock every single time. They are 47% of the imported wine drinkers that bought bottle via Internet in the past six-month.

Tastes are changing

If the industry seems to prosper and keeps on booming since the past decade, we can’t say the same about French wine. In 2013, for the first time, the French wine industry lose its power on the Chinese market.

This drop is probably due to the strong foreign competition of other country on the market but also from Chinese vineyard (in Shandong, Ningxia or Yunnan) that now, can get certified and will become the world’s biggest wine producer in four years, according to a report from France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). However, exporting becomes even more decisive since the domestic market cannot absorb the entire production. Therefore, French winemarkers should start to look beyong the Chinese market and seek for the rest of Asia that will eventually start to consume wine in the near future.

What to expect from the future ?

Even if the Chinese wine consumption is expected to slow down in the next five years, it will still increase by at least 30% between now and 2017. Driving the global wine industry into a nice perspective and a growth of about 5% in the same period of time.