China’s wine imports in the first five months of the year continued to dip but its overall decline was lifted by growth recorded in May.

According to the latest data released by China Association for Imports and Exports of Wine and Spirits (CAWS)，Spirits imports declined by 17.3% in volume and 14.9% in value to US$661.1 million compared with the same period last year, while wine imports dropped by 13.7% in value to US$592.8 million, .

During the month, the country’s wine imports grew by 12.2% to US$141.8 million for a total of 38 million liters, the first monthly growth recorded so far.

 France leads China’s bottled wine imports.From January to May, France exported a total of US$254.2 million worth of wines to China, which represents 42.8% of China’s total wine imports. This however is a 10.9% drop in value and 23.1% drop in volume, as the CAWS data shows.

Chile exported 64.3 million liters of wines, worth US$155 million to China in the first five months, up 16.08% in volume and 11.95% in value. Its market share also expanded to 26.15%, as a result.

Aside from Chile, American wine exports to China during the period also registered positive growth in value. US wine exports grew by 19.3% to US$20.4 million compared with the same period last year.

Georgian wines continued to enjoy success in the market. Its value grew by 57.3% to US$7.2 million and volume jumped 46.6% to 1.89 million liters.

Australia has completely lost its market in China. Its market share dropped from its peak of over 40% to a mere 0.56%.