(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-05 09:23

Many Chinese have switched from drinking white spirits to wine because they believe it is good for their health. Xiang Ying

Organizers of Vinexpo Asian-Pacific, which is to be held from May 27-29 in Hong Kong, presented the report at a press conference in Beijing. The Vinexpo/IWSR study forecasts that, against a background of substantial economic growth, the annual growth of wine consumption in China will rise from 7 percent per year, which was the case between 2002-06, to 13 percent per year from 2006-2011. By 2011, Chinese drinkers are expected to down more than 1.1 billion bottles, or, 828 million liters of wine per year.

IWSR (International Wine and Spirit Record) is a British market research company.

France remains the leading supplier of wines to the Chinese market, providing 33.3 percent of all imported still light wines in volume. It is followed by Australia, the United States, Chile and Spain.

"A lot of Chinese people associate wine with France, because they see French wines in movies, TV shows, and even on the walls of construction sites," reveals Jim Boyce, an NGO communication manager from Canada.

Charles Delamalle attributes the strong sales of French wine to its good reputation, long history, good quality and great variety.

Although China consumes the biggest quantity of wine in Asia, the IWSR study shows that 92.8 percent of all still wine drunk is of Chinese origin. China ranks second, and way behind Japan, in terms of imported wine consumption.

"Many Chinese people buy cheap Chinese wines to boost the atmosphere at parties or during festivals," says Jenny Zhang. "But those who buy for taste usually prefer foreign wines."

Jim Boyce has lived in China for more than three years, visited Chinese wineries and studied Chinese wines.

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