HONG KONG: The Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair commenced in Wan Chai yesterday to explore market opportunities in Asia for exhibitors from around the world.

More than 520 exhibitors from 34 countries and regions have converged on Hong Kong, doubling the size of the fair held last year. Thirteen countries are new to this year's exhibition, including Belgium, Greece, Lebanon, Poland, the Netherlands and Portugal. The culturally diverse exhibitors are eager to show their equally broad range of wines and spirits to over 1,200 buyers milling in the hall.

Special activities such as wine-tasting sessions, master classes and seminars are also provided. The largest wine competition in Asia is also to be held during the fair.

The scope of the fair is a fair reflection of the increasingly important niche Hong Kong occupies in world wine markets. "Much of the growth of the fine wine market has come from new markets, such as Hong Kong," said James Miles, director of Liv-ex, the leading fine wine marketplace in the world.

Underlying the wine focus of the fair is the city's ambition to establish itself as an Asian wine hub. Making great strides toward this goal, Hong Kong is expected to overtake London to become the second biggest center for wine auctions in the world.

Indeed, wine imports in Hong Kong recorded a sharp rise in 2008, when the value of wine imports jumped 80 percent year-on-year to HK$2.9 billion. In the first eight months of this year, imports amounted to HK$2.3 billion, an increase of 42 percent compared with the same period last year, Financial Secretary John Tsang said at the opening ceremony of the fair.

"Our goal has been to establish Hong Kong as a wine trading and distribution center in Asia," he said.

Putting that kind of talk into action, Hong Kong became a duty-free wine port in February 2008 when Tsang approved exemption from wine duties as the first step on the road to becoming the premier wine-trading and distribution center in Asia.

To accomplish the goal, Hong Kong intends to make good use of the tremendous wine-business opportunities on the mainland.

The SAR government has just reached an agreement with mainland customs to provide customs facilitation measures for wine exported from Hong Kong to the mainland.

Echoing the general wine-market optimism, the wine industry believes the mainland will be an important and growing market for wine in the next decade and beyond. Total fresh-grape wine imports on the mainland have nearly tripled over the past 10 years. Even so, the current grape wine consumption per capita on the mainland is still fairly low compared to other countries, said Beredan O'Toole, managing partner of Summergate Fine Wines.

The SAR government is also assisting the wine industry in launching a scheme for accrediting storage facilities, which is essential to preserving the value of fine wine as an investment asset. The scheme is expected to be rolled out by the end of this year, and is likely to be the first of its kind anywhere, Tsang said.

The fair will be open to the public on its final day, tomorrow. Each ticket is HK$200.

(HK Edition 11/05/2009 page1)