Statistics from the Yantai Food Institute showed that wine production of China increased by 24% in 2008 to 6.4 Mio hl. The gross value of output has reached 2.1 billion Euros, up 27% comparing with 2007.

The total China wine exports decreased by 32% in volume, to 73,000 hl last year. The sparkling wine exports increased by 24% (reaching 3000 hl) in terms of volume and down 25% (reaching 1.6 Mio Euro) in terms of value compared with 2007.China bottled wine sales abroad reduced by 35% in 2008, reaching 12 Mio Euro.

Exports of bottled wine slumped by 45%, to 40,000 hl.
China wine imports jumped by 11% (to 1.82 Mio hl) in volume and 42% (to 610 Mio Euro) in value.

According to the latest research from Vinexpo, China will become the seventh biggest wine consuming country in the world by 2012, with wine consumption expected to rise 36%, to 1 billion bottles.

There should be around 2,000 wine importers in China and at least 100 cities over 1 Mio inhabitants where at least 2 importers are leading the market. This indicates the large number of local importers that are very strong locally and the relative low number of importers who are able to sell successfully nationwide.