According to the statistics of Guangdong Customs, the wine imports of Guangdong province exceeded 10 million litres mark in 2007, rose by 110% year on year, to 13.784 million litres. The total imports for 2007 valued at 80.809 million dollars, up 260% from a year earlier .

The average price of imported wine to Guangdong province increased sharply in 2007, with wines under 2 - litre bottles are priced at $4.9 per litre, up 21.3 percent, wines above 2-litre bottles are priced at $0.85 per litre, jumped 10.6%. The average price of grape-based imported spirit is higher than usual , lifted 110%, to $15.6 per litre.

Analysts said that reasons for the price increase include the dropping production of grapes from France, Italy for the bad weather, and the higher cost of winemaking, shipping, etc. Additionally, Portugal, which ranked number 6 on the list of wine producer in the world, for the first time dropped down and wine harvest falling dramatically.

Figures show that French high end wines dominated Guangdong imported wine market. The volumes for French imported wines up 170%, to 6.331 million litres, which accounted for 45.9% of Guangdong’s total imported wine, lifted by 9.8% year on year. Wines imported from France registered a 360 percent lift in value terms to 61.414 millions dollars, which took a share of 76% in the total value of Guangdong imported wines.The average price of imported French wines increased 70.1%, at $9.7 per litre.

Last year, volumes of wines from Australia and US to Guangdong are 2.995 million litres and 2.054 million litres , grew 75.4% and 42.9% respectively.