China shows no sign of slowing down on imported wine

China’s imported wine sector continued to grow in the first half of the year, while its domestic wine production continued its five-year decline.

China imported 385.4 million litres of wines in the first half of the year, representing a 25.8% rise in volume year-on-year, according to the latest figures by the Chinese research film, ASKCI Consulting.

By value, the country imported US$1.98 billion worth of wines, up by 9.3% over the same period last year. The report however did not disclose the source of imported countries.

Meanwhile China, which is also the world’s seventh largest wine producer, continued to see a drop in its domestic wine production, after experiencing five years of consecutive decline.

From January to June, the China’s bottled wine production stood at 341,000 tonnes, representing a slight dip of 1.4%.

The country’s total wine production has been in decline since 2013, but the country has the world’s second largest area under vine after Spain.

The country planted 847,000 hectares of vineyards, following a steady increase since 2010. Spain’s area under vine is numbered at 975,000 hectares.