Access Asia: U.S. Wine Export Mission Hong Kong & Shenzhen,China

U.S. Wine Export Mission will be held on November 2-8,2009.

The features of Asian wine market:

1.Hong Kong's role as the wine trading and distribution hub of Asia was boosted recently by the removal of duty on wine, making Hong Kong the only major economy to have no duties and no sales tax
on wine. The sales were up 87% over the same period in 2007.

2.Sales revenues of wine in China were 2.8 billion in 2008, up by 20 percent over the previous year.

3. Total wine imports into China reached 264 million USD, an increase of more than 40 percent compared with 2007.

4.The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong comprise more than 60 percent of Asia's wine market

5. Forty percent of wines traded in London and New York, the world's biggest trading markets, are owned by Chinese consumers - predominantly in Hong Kong.

6. By 2012, the Asian market (excluding Japan) is expected to double, reaching US$17 billion and rising 10 percent through 2020.