Hong Kong wine imports to top billion- dollar

In a city with an undiminished taste for Bordeaux, the wine trade is toasting billion- dollar receipts and the gains are set to surpass last year's take.

Wine imports to Hong Kong in the first eight months rose 65 percent from a year earlier to HK$6.7 billion and are on target to surpass last year's value of shipments to the city worth HK$6.9 billion, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said yesterday.

The TDC will kick off the Hong Kong Wine and Spirits Fair next Thursday at theconvention center in Wan Chai. 

Italy, which is among the top five exporters to Hong Kong, isthe partner country and will put up the biggest group pavilion. 

France tops the list of wine suppliers to Hong Kong with sales worth HK$2.64 billion, accounting for nearly 40 percent of imports from January to August. 

Italy ranks seventh, below the UK, Singapore and Switzerland - countries not synonymous with wine. Asked to explain the anomaly, TDC deputy executive director Benjamin Chau said it is a result of "re- exports from those countries." Italian trade commissioner Paola Guida said the import data are "not an accurate" indication of the popularity of Italian wines in Hong Kong. 

She reckons some barely known names appear in the top five because agents are shipping to Hong Kong from those ports. 

Citing Euromonitor data, Chau said wine consumption in China is estimated to be worth HK$304 billion this year.