It seems every exporter
has their eye on Asia, and China in particular. Agribusiness
Editor Neal Wallace reports that our glamour wine industry is
focusing on China, and for good reason.
It was common sense for Air New Zealand to introduce direct
flights from Auckland to Shanghai and Beijing.
The procession of exporters heading off with order books
under their arms looking for potential Asian customers
necessitated its introduction.
Manufacturers and Fonterra have been doing business up there
for some time, red meat exporters have targeted China as
having huge potential and now the wine industry has China and
other Asian markets in its sights.
Grape growers and wine makers at this week's Romeo Bragato
industry conference in Christchurch were told that wine
imports in to Asia, excluding Japan, would be worth $US17
billion ($NZ24.1 billion) by 2012 and $US27 billion by 2017,
and New Zealand wine makers want a slice of that.
New Zealand Wine Growers chief executive Philip Gregan said
wine industry trade delegations have planned visits to Hong
Kong, Japan, Korea, China and India, all of which had
expressed interest in buying New Zealand wine.
Korea, China and India, in particular, showed plenty of
interest.
Asian countries have been minor export markets, with
individual countries only buying up to $10 million worth of
wine a year, compared to Australia which bought $250 million,
an increase of 37% last year, the United Kingdom at $240
million and United States at $160 million.
"There is very big potential, a real opportunity for red wine
in particular, and to broaden our base away from sauvignon
blanc," Mr Gregan said of Asia.
Asian markets were predominantly for red wine, but there was
potential for white given its fit with Asian food.
Asian markets would take some nurturing, he said, but with
New Zealand wine exports expected to grow from $800 million
this year to $1 billion by 2010, it was necessary to look for
new consumers.
Asian wine consultant Simon Tam, from the International Wine
Centre in Hong Kong, told the conference that the reputation
of Chinese as not being wine drinkers was unfounded.
It was also a market reputed to be for cheap wine which was
often mixed with soft drink.
That reputation grew when the world wide glut was dumped in
China and it was mixed, but it no longer applied.
Mr Tam said that in the last decade China has become a more
sophistication drinking and eating culture and that included
wine.
It imported an additional 30% of the volume of alcohol that
was consumed, with most of the wine imported from Spain and
South America.
Like all wine drinkers, Mr Tam said Chinese had graduated
from drinking wine out of flagons and casks to bottles.
"A persistent wine drinking culture permeates every corner of
life."
New Zealand wine suited the Chinese palate by not being too
strong or too lean, and had a pure and accurate taste.
"Pinot noir has to taste like pinot noir," he said.
"New Zealand is ideally suited, producing wine somewhere in
between," he told 600 people at the conference.
There was a domestic wine growing industry in China, but Mr
Tam said while it tended to be of mediocre quality, it was
what domestic consumers were accustomed to.
China's middle class was growing, often well travelled and
wanting more westernised diets and lifestyle, but potential
exporters made several mistakes in the way they approached
the market, Mr Tam said.
"When you think about China, go there with the same
sophistication and dedication that you do when you go to
Europe."
There were parts of China that were virtually inaccessible
and others where people would not spend less than $NZ20 a
bottle.
As with Europe, Chinese customers wanted quality products and
services and he said exporters needed to do the same homework
on buyers and distributors.
It was also important to put aside what people thought they
knew about China. That knowledge was outdated, because of the
pace at which the country was changing.
Another mistake for exporters was potential partners
over-promising what they could deliver.
Despite what a distributor may claim, the country was too
vast for one company to handle nationwide distribution.
Mr Tam said exporters should focus on individual states or
cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong or Macau.
Macau, for example, spent $US1.3 billion a year on wine,
largely through its extensive gambling facilities.
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