China to be eighth largest wine consumer
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| China's huge potential wine market. |
The International Wine and Spirit Record (IWSR), an internationally-renowned wine and spirit research and consultancy firm, expects China to consume some 1.1 billion bottles of wine per year by 2011.
The firm released its 2008 report in Shanghai in early September, pointing out that China is already the world's largest consumer of spirits, and its wine market is expanding faster than anywhere else in the world.
Top wine and spirits makers from countries like Germany, Chile and Spain all see a rosy picture for the China market following the return to China this year of Vinexpo, the world's biggest wine and spirits show.
Studies show that China sold wines worth US$1.54 billion in 2006 and turnover is expected to increase by 75.5% to US$2.71 billion by 2011, by which time China will have a 40% share of the Asian market in wine sales.
Dominique Hériard Dubreuil, Chairwoman of Vinexpo Overseas, said that while China's wine market holds great promise, consumption is highly dependent on people of suitable wine-drinking age, who account for between 5% and 10% of the country's population.
France remains the biggest supplier of wines in China, but the country's future billion-dollar wine market is expected to be dominated ultimately by local products.
from Wang Nan, Shanghai Office
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