SIAL GAMBLES ON THIRD-TIER CHINESE CITY IN PURSUIT OF WINE MARKET

French-based organiser Comexposium is taking its SIAL food exhibition to one of China's third-tier cities in an effort to capitalise on the local wine industry.

SIAL launches in Yantai on June 20-22 this year, managed by Comexposium's office in Shanghai. Yantai, according to Comexposium, is the capital of the Chinese wine production industry.

General manager of Comexposium Shanghai, Bjoern Kempe, said the city's reputation for food and wine made it a prudent investment for the organiser, but added that the issue was not without its challenges.

"The challenge we have in a third-tier city is visitor promotion," he said. "We are working very hard to get the right people to come to the city. However, look at how you can work with local partners and the government. In our case there is already an established festival in Yantai, so we are working with the people involved with that."

The Yantai launch is preceded by a launch in Mendoza, Argentina, on 31 May to 2 June. Comexposium has also confirmed it will launch the brand in the US city San Diego in 2013.

Kempe spoke about SIAL's international roll-out at the UFI Asia Open Seminar, which took place in Shenzhen, southern China, on Thursday and Friday last week.