The General Administration of Customs recently released the wine import data for the first half of 2024, with an import volume of about 130 million liters, a year-on-year increase of 1.78%, and an import value of about 710 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 20.63%. In addition, the import volume of wine in June was about 26.04 million liters, a year-on-year decrease of 3.08%, and the import value was about 200 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 56.87%.
For bottled wine, France is still the largest source of imports in the first half of the year, but Australia, which has been catching up, has surpassed France in June to become the first in the month, in addition to the rise of United States, New Zealand and other countries is also worth paying attention to, WBO will bring specific interpretation.
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In the first half of the year, the import value of bottled wine of 2L and below increased by 25.12% year-on-year
On the whole, in the first half of the year, the import volume of bottled wine of 2L and below was about 76.37 million liters, a year-on-year increase of 0.29%, and the import value was about 640 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 25.12%.
Specifically, in June, the import volume of bottled wine of 2L and below was about 18.1 million liters, a year-on-year decrease of 4.68%, and the import value was about 190 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 67.32%.
Overall, the import volume of bottled wine of 2L and below in the first half of the year did not change significantly compared with last year, but the average import price increased significantly. The re-entry of more mid-to-high-end Australian fine wines into China is the main reason, in addition to the rising freight prices on the Asia-Europe route, the rising costs caused by inflation and other factors, as well as the shift of wine merchants to well-known production areas and big brand products.
Contrary to the trend of more expensive bottles of 2L and below, the import of bulk wine of 10L and above has increased at a lower price.
In the first half of the year, the import volume of bulk wine was about 49.62 million liters, a year-on-year increase of 4.43%, and the import value was about 36.83 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 16.39%. Qi Jin, head of the international business department of Gaosheng Liquor Group, said that the average price of loose wine in almost all major producing countries has reached a low point in the world.
In addition, some bulk wine importers revealed that only a little loose wine from Chile is currently retained, and the rest of the space is given to Australian loose wine, because the price of Australian loose wine has dropped to a lower price, and it has a high adaptability to the Chinese market in many aspects.
In the first half of the year, the volume of sparkling wine increased, with an import volume of about 3.13 million liters, a year-on-year increase of 6.05%, and an import value of about 32.35 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.63%, in addition to a decrease of 4.17% in the average import price. In the WBO survey, in the first half of the year, the consumption of champagne in high-end restaurants, night clubs and other places had a significant downgrade, while the more affordable Prosecco and Moscato had a certain growth in e-commerce channels.
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France continued to lead in the first half of the year, with Australia jumping to first place in June
In terms of countries, among the top 10 import sources in the first half of the year, the import volume of bottled wine from traditional countries such as France, Italy and Spain both decreased, while New World countries such as Australia, United States and New Zealand achieved growth.
Specific to June, Australia was the most prominent country this month, with imports of about 4.93 million liters, an increase of nearly 319 times year-on-year, and imports of about 100 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of nearly 494 times. This month, Australia's wine imports have achieved double excess of France, but from January to June, France is still ahead, with imports about 3 times and 1.5 times that of Australia, respectively.
France's wine imports were about 4.65 million liters, down 43.23% year-on-year, and the import value was about 43.72 million US dollars, down 31.87% year-on-year. Since a number of large importers have concentrated their stocking of France wines in the past few months, and now that they have entered the off-season of wine consumption, the decline is expected.
The worst decline was in South Africa, with imports of 279,700 liters, down 64.99% year-on-year, and imports of $765,700, down 72.99% year-on-year. Some South Africa wine merchants said that due to the lack of obvious benchmark brands and large-circulation products in South Africa, the market awareness is not high, and it is more affected by the poor market. In addition, due to the Red Sea incident, many cargo routes need to bypass South Africa, and the port congestion also affects South Africa wine imports.
The increase in data in three countries is noteworthy, of which Germany and New Zealand are mainly seasonal factors, and in recent years, white wine has also increased attention at the channel and market level.
United States wine imports in June were about 11.38 million US dollars, a 277.23% increase in imports, becoming the fourth largest source of imports. For the growth of United States, some distributors revealed that on the one hand, due to the arrival of United States Penfolds' mid-to-high-end products, on the other hand, the inventory of domestic United States wine channels is not much, and some wine merchants have begun to replenish stocks, but United States due to rising costs, some mid-to-high-end and high-end boutique wines have seen a price increase of 15%-25%.
The changes in the import data in the first half of the year also reflect the adjustment of the product selection structure of some wine merchants, such as shifting from a diversified layout to a more centralized selection idea, gradually shifting from the pursuit of high gross profit products to the hard currency of large brands, and from a higher proportion of dry red wine to white wine, sparkling wine and other trend categories. Although the overall import volume has not increased significantly, it can also provide insight into some strategies of wine merchants to cope with the current market.