Hong Kong overtakes NY, London in wine auctions

HONG KONG — Hong Kong has overtaken New York and London as the largest wine market for two of world's biggest auction houses, the firms said Tuesday, highlighting a trend spurred by surging demand from China.

Sotheby's said its wine auction held in the southern Chinese city over the weekend, together with another one in April, have raised 14.3 million dollars.

The figure surpassed those of New York and London, which respectively recorded sales of 10.5 million dollars from four auctions and of eight million dollars from seven auctions held this year, the auction house told AFP.

Christie's also said that its recent auction results have also shown that Hong Kong is taking over New York and London as its largest wine market.

"In Sotheby's first year of selling wine in Asia, Hong Kong has become (its) most important wine centre, ahead of very successful auctions in New York and London," said Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby's international wine sales.

"Sotheby's have exciting plans to build on this momentum to bring to the market top collections in 2010," she added.

Sotheby's and its rival Christie's began to hold regular wine and champagne auctions in Hong Kong after the city's government abolished duties on wine imports in 2008 in a bid to establish the city as a regional wine hub.

China's economic boom and growing demand for top French wines has become the key driver of Hong Kong's wine market, as can be seen from the increasing number of mainland Chinese bidders at the auctions.

At Sotheby's weekend sales, a Chinese bidder splashed out a record 93,077 dollars for a bottle of 1982 Chateau Petrus Imperial.

Sutcliffe said 99 percent of buyers in the two-day auction were Asian buyers, including those from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The latest auction fetched almost 30 percent more than Sotheby's estimate of 6.13 million dollars.

David Elswood, head of Christie's international wine department, said its Hong Kong wine auctions had the highest average lot values among its global sales, at 150,000 dollars per lot.

"Asian buyers are very active not only in Hong Kong, but also in the international wine market," Elswood told AFP.

This spring, Asian buyers accounted for 61 percent of Christie's global wine sales in New York, London and Hong Kong, whereas they made up only seven percent of global buyers in 2005, he said.

"Buyers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China also grew substantially between last autumn and this spring at our auctions. We expect this trend to continue."