China overtakes Britain in wine consumption

Looking back to the years 2006 to 2010, figures show that wine consumption in China increased 2.4 times more than had been forecast. From today’s point of view, a further increase of consumption of 55 percent is being forecast for the years 2011 to 2015.

“We are facing a hype – each producer in the traditional wine growing regions thinks: China, China, China”, Robert Beynat, CEO of the VINEXPO comments the study.

Looking at the per capita consumption of the most important wine countries, the figures for China are moderate - it is estimated that in 2015, the wine consumption is about 2 liters a year. However, we may not disregard the pure number of consumers in China, which makes the value and, thus, the volume increase a lot.

Compared to these figures, the average per capita consumption in France and Italy by 2015 is estimated at 50 liters a year - in America it is estimated to be at 13 liters a year by then.

At the same time, the USA will, though, supersede France as well as Italy as the wine nation biggest in volume, experts forecast. As early as in 2011, the sales volume in the USA was at about 3.7 billion bottles, and the IWSR study forecasts a further increase between 2011 and 2015 by at least 10 percent for America.

For the United Kingom, nevertheless, figures forecast a decrease of wine consumption of about 4.13 percent for the next five years; this would imply a decrease of the per capita consumption from today 26 liters to then 24 liters a year: “The British are drinking better wine but less”, Robert Beynat explains the numbers. “Moreover, the latest economy crisis has a lasting effect on wine consumption in the United Kingdom because people do no longer buy wine bottles in boxes of 12 but more single bottles, and this is true for the whole country.”

The findings of the IWSR study are drawn from 114 consumer markets and 28 wine countries. So, the total consumption of these markets must have reached a volume of 31.6 billion bottles in 2010, which is 4.5 percent more than a study from 2006 had found out. The forecast for the global consumption in the next five years predicts a growth rate of 6.17 percent, which equals a volume of about 34.13 billion bottles.

“No doubt – people will keep on drinking wine. It is gratifying that more and more young people are interested in wine and in the culture wine is surrounded by”, Robert Beynat resumes the study. And it is also normal that consumers drink less wine but buy wine in a more selective manner, in other words: they buy a higher quality of wine. At least the British show this tendency.” (red.yoopress)