According to the data of CFNA (China Chamber of Commerce For Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce And Animal),imported spirits grew significantly from January to May 2021. Amounting to US$780 million, it represents an increase of 117% year-on-year, and overtakes wine to become China's largest imported alcoholic drinks category.
Imported wine continued to pick up in general, with a volume of 170 million liters, a year-on-year decrease of 1%, which was less than the decline of January-April by more than 6%. The import value was amounted to nearly US$700 million, with an year-on-year increase of 0.2%, up 4% compared with January-April . However, Australian wine, which used to occupied a big import share before , affected by the government’s tariff policy and have been severely reducing the volume, causing the wine category to shrink and be surpassed by imported spirits.
Thanks to the contribution of brandy, France is the top source of imported spirits, accounting for 64% of the top ten sources of imports. From January to May 2021, bottled import volume and import value from France increased by 23% and 62% year-on-year respectively. The proportion of Chile’s bottled wine imports rose from 10% in 2017 to 17%.
Italian wines are rising rapidly in the Chinese market. The latest data show that the country’s bottled wine surpasses the Spanish wines with a 10% market share.
The data shows that brandy imports reached a value of US$500 million and a volume of over 17 million litres, increasing 149% and 74% year-on-year respectively, accounted for more than 60% of the entire spirit import.
Imported whiskey ranks the 2nd place,with the value of US$150 million and volume of 10 million litres between January to May .
During the period, the bottled wines of Germany, New Zealand, the United States, Argentina and other countries are continuing to rise. Australia, the former market leader in China, rank fifth both by value and volume.
编辑：Frida Xu
