Xin Ou
Research expert covering Greater China
Wine industry in China - statistics & facts
China is the largest grape producer on the planet, contributing nearly half of the world’s grape production with the third-largest vineyard area worldwide. For a long time, wine was seen as a luxury product in China, symbolizing the social status of the drinkers. Nowadays, grape wine appears frequently on the table at family and social gatherings. Also frequent are changes in market trends.
Domestic market on a roller coaster ride
Due to the country’s growing middle class and their increasing amount of disposable income, alongside the effects of globalization, China’s wine market saw an exponential upswing in the first decade of the 21st century. Stimulated by this lucrative market, the number of wine manufacturing enterprises peaked at 244 in 2017. However, since the second half of the 2010s, domestic consumption has been falling continuously, with the number of wine manufacturers dropping by more than half due to high production costs and narrowing price margins. In 2023, China’s wine market fell from the second to the third place in the world in terms of revenue.Turmoil in the import market
Imported wine has been associated with good taste and high quality among Chinese wine drinkers, which is often served at business banquets or given as gifts. While French wine asserts its dominance in the prestige wine market, new world wines lead the mid- and low-end segment. In the first half of 2020, Australia overtook France to be China’s leading wine exporting partner. However, only a few months later, China imposed an anti-dumping tariff of 212 percent on Australian wine, directly knocking Australia out of the China’s 10 major wine suppliers. In March 2024, with the warming-up of the relationship between the two countries, China lifted anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian bottled wine. Since then, the import value of Australian wine has skyrocketed from 3.48 million U.S. dollars in 2023 to more than half a billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Australia has returned to the throne of China’s largest wine supplier.Red or white?
Red wine is by far the most popular grape wine in China, especially appealing to millionaires, while white wine has been gaining traction. Yet color is not the only decision-making factor for Chinese consumers when selecting wine. How the product is packaged and where it is sold can sometimes be more influential.
