Wine trade in Asia-Pacific surging in past 10 years

Wine regulators from 18 Asia-Pacific governments met this week to share ideas on building the Pacific Rim wine trade. 

More than 100 officials gathered with international wine industry representatives in San Francisco and Livermore Valley, California, at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) workshop to discuss reducing unnecessary impediments to trade, including streamlining regulatory import-export requirements. The regulators also shared best practices on wine certification, analysis, winemaking practices and labeling in the region. 

Officials attending the APEC forum included (L to r): Michael Moore, New Zealand Ambassador to the U.S.; Sirma Karapeeva, New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development; Julia Doherty, Senior Director at the U.S. Office of Trade Representative, APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance chair; and Robert P. (Bobby) Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute.

In the past decade, wine trade in the 21-nation APEC region has grown significantly, accounting for 26% of all global trade in 2010, up from 21.8% in 2000. More than one-fifth of APEC members’ global wine trade is conducted within the region, which has tripled to $3.6 billion in value over the last decade.