NEWS
HONG KONG WINE IMPORTS SAW DOUBLE-DIGIT DECLINE TWO YEARS IN A ROW
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
24-5-2021
Credt: David Mathews
Hong Kong's wine imports fell by 14.7 percent in value to HKD 7.511 billion (USD1 billion) in 2020 due to the pandemic, representing second year of contractions in a row after wine imports were disrupted by social unrest in 2019.
By volume, wine imports last year fell by 15.8 percent to 34.676 million liters, according to latest data released by the Hong Kong Trade development Council (HKTDC).
Sales of wine in Hong Kong had been hit hard by COVID-19 measures where pubs had to close for months and border closures which have brought re-export wine trade to a halt in 2020.
Compared to 2019 when Hong Kong was affected by months long demonstrations leading to sharp decrease of in-coming tourists, the contraction seen in wine imports last year is much milder.
Hong Kong’s wine imports decreased by 26.4 percent in value and 19.6 percent in volume in 2019.
The Asian financial hub’s wine re-export trade was hit particularly hard in the past two years. The trade dropped 40.4 percent to HKD899 million in 2020, following a 56 percent drop in 2019.
The proportion of Hong Kong's wine re-export trade in total wine imports is also shrinking fast, from 28.6 percent in 2018 to 12 percent in 2020.
Hong Kong imports most of its wines from France, which enjoys consistent over 60% of market share in Hong Kong. However, in recent years, New World countries such as Australia, the United States and New Zealand have also taken up a considerable share.
Meanwhile in 2020, Hong Kong’s wine imports from Spain decreased by 47.5 percent, from United States decreased by 37 percent and from Switzerland decreased by 27 percent.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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