Wine storage facilities booming in Hong Kong

After Hong Kong axed wine duties in February 2008, imports surged to $858 million last year, from $185 million in 2007. Auction house Sotheby’s (BID) hasn’t had an unsold bottle in the city in its last 15 auctions and broke the world record in October with three bottles of 1869 Chateau Lafite that fetched HK$1.8 million ($230,930) each. 

“It’s exploded, and you need logistics to support that,” said Robert Sleigh, who runs Sotheby’s Asia wine business. “Now there are world-class wine storage facilities in Hong Kong.” 

The city needs them. Temperatures can soar to 35 degrees Celsius, with relative humidity near 100 percent, factors that could render a $75,000 bottle of Chateau d’Yquem undrinkable. Moreover, few collectors have room for cellars, with 99 percent of the population living in apartments. 

Still, it wasn’t until the government cut the wine duty to zero from 40 percent in February 2008 that storage took off. 

Imported wine in China is taxed at 45 percent including customs duty, while the UK charges 41.7 percent in excise duty and VAT. Hong Kong wines have no sales tax.