China's wine import market is generally relatively depressed, in addition to the impact of the global economic environment, or with a large inventory backlog during the epidemic period has a great relationship. So, now 2024 is too fast to half, as the stock of the post-epidemic era slowly digested, what is the scene of today's imported wine market? Let's take a look at the data!

According to the relevant data released by the General Administration of Customs, from January to April 2024, China imported a total of 81.6871 million liters of wine, an increase of 7.41% compared with the same period last year; Imports amounted to approximately $359 million, an increase of 1.29 percent compared to the same period last year. The overall situation is good.

In fact, the volume and amount of imported wine in January and February showed a downward trend, mainly due to the shortening of the Spring Festival preparation period and the rise in import costs. Although the value of imports in March still showed a small decline, down 2.61 per cent year on year, the volume of imports reversed sharply, rising 32.92 per cent year on year. After entering April, China's imported wine market reversed the situation, and there was a phenomenon of double increase in volume and amount rarely seen in recent years: in April, China's wine imports were about 21.955,900 liters, an increase of 19.14%; Imports amounted to about $113 million, up 44.72% year-on-year.

From the packaging analysis, from January to April, China's imported bottled wine was about 42.68 million liters, a year-on-year decrease of 2.71%, the import amount was 311 million US dollars, an increase of 1.08%, accounting for 86.67% of the total import amount; Among them, the import of bottled wine in April was 12.2990 million liters, and the import value was 107 million US dollars, the volume and amount increased by 17.16% and 48.45% respectively compared with the same period last year, which was the main force driving the growth of the wine import market in April.

At the same time, bulk wine imports in the first four months of 2024 were about 37.35 million litres, up 21.73% year-on-year, and the import value was about 27.61 million US dollars, down 1.78% year-on-year; Despite the slight decline in imports, the increase in imports also indicates that affordable wines are gaining a competitive edge as mass consumption declines.

The import data of sparkling wine has increased significantly, with imports of about 1.655 million liters and imports of $20.22 million, an increase of 17.79% and 9.5% respectively, which is due to the upcoming summer, the market demand for sparkling wine has increased, in addition to young consumers' preference for this type of fresh and refreshing wine will also make its market increase in the next few months.

Mainly French champagne, Italy's Prosecco and Spain's Cava, from the perspective of imports, the increase of French sparkling wine is not large, 7.01%; Italian sparkling wine saw a significant increase, up 32.38%, while Spanish sparkling wine was affected by a reduction in the production of Cava's core producing areas, resulting in higher costs, with imports down 40.78%.

From the perspective of the main source of imports, in the TOP 5 import source countries, although France ranks first, it is the only country with a year-on-year decline in volume and volume, not only that, in addition to Italy, several old world wine producing countries' exports to China have declined to varying degrees.

The decline in demand for this type of wine is partly due to the slowdown in China's economy and the impact of rising import costs due to inflation. In addition, wine with other countries and China's domestic wine progress is increasingly fierce, for example, in the low-end wine, Chilean wine because of its high quality and low price and China's zero tariff policy instead of Spanish wine, becoming the first choice of many importers.

Therefore, from January to April this year, in the main import sources, the Chilean wine imports second only to France, the volume increased by 24.75% and 3.14%, respectively, the volume of Spanish wine imports, respectively, down 34.96% and 18.84%. The decline in wine imports to Germany is mainly due to seasonal factors, but with the arrival of summer, consumer demand for riesling is expected to increase, and Germany, as a major producer, will increase exports to China.

The performance of Italian wines outside the Chinese market is also very good, Liv-ex data show that in April Liv-ex Italy 100 rose 0.7% against the trend of Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 down 1.3, showing continued stability; The recent performance of imported wine in the United States is also good, although its cost is not low, but its domestic consumer demand is relatively stable, the volume, the amount increased by 18.44% and 5.37% respectively.

At the same time, since China cancelled the punitive tariffs on Australian wine imports in March, the import volume of Australian wine has increased by an astonishing 539.26% and 1332.38%, respectively, the relevant personnel said that with the Australian wine has entered the Chinese market, its growth will have a certain continuity.

Throughout today's Chinese wine import market, there seems to be a warming trend, but the current global economic situation is still unclear, the wine market has still not completely out of the downturn, the future is to continue to develop better, or will fall, is still an unknown.