Hong Kong Signs Agreement to Speed Up Wine Exports to Mainland China

Hong Kong reached an agreement with China's customs agency that will speed up the export of wines into the growing mainland market, the city government said. 

Assessment of the value of China-bound wine shipments and the amount of duty due to mainland authorities will be made before the cargo leaves the city, according to a Hong Kong government statement. It cited speeches by Donald Tong, head of the city's trade promotion agency in the U.S., where he met local lawmakers and wine producers.

Hong Kong and mainland China are governed by different laws under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle that underpinned the city's reversion to Chinese rule in 1997.

Two years after Hong Kong scrapped its 40 percent duties on the beverage, the city has overtaken London as the world's second-biggest wine-auction market after New York, Tong said. Last year, Hong Kong sold $64 million worth of wine in 14 auctions. The city's 2009 imports of the beverage rose 41 percent to $517 million, the statement said.