Chinese wines face challenges from imported brands

China's domestic wine brands are facing more challenges from imported brands, according to the China Business News Wednesday.

From 2004 to 2009, the total value of imported alcoholic beverages, including wines, increased from $250 million to $1.05 billion, said Qian Bin, a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce.

Wang Xinguo, president of the China National Association for Liquor and Spirits Circulation, spoke about the situation for local wine brands, saying that an increasing number of consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s have adopted a more Westernized lifestyle, and tend to favor foreign wines.

According to Wang, some Chinese consumers do not display maturity in their choices, with many "blindly worshipping" international brands of wines, which is another reason why imported foreign wines are in vogue.

Imported wines from France are the most popular in China, and some with an ex-factory price of 1 euro ($1.3) can sell for hundreds of yuan here, said Bai Zhisheng, Board Chairman of Dynastic, a leading Chinese winemaker.

Dynastic and another company, Yantai ChangYu Group Company Limited, have changed their market strategy in order to tackle the situation and, in addition to marketing their own wine products, they have also acquired some foreign brands.

Last year, China was ranked as the world's No. 8 wine producing country, with production reaching 960,000 tons, and it is expected to climb to the 7th position this year.

Domestic wine brands are also tackling the issue of counterfeit products, said the China Business News.