Chinese grape wine market dominated by ChangYu, Great Wall and Dynasty

Spurred by rapid growth of consumption within the market place, the Chinese grape wine market continues to climb year after year.

China has a 6,000 year history of grape growing, and a 2,000 year history of wine making, and yet until this century the wine that was made in China was not of a style that would be recognised in the West.

China (including Hong Kong) is among the top ten wine markets in the world, having been described as the world's fifth and seventh-largest wine market in sales, account for both domestic and imported brands. Sales in 2011 were estimated to be 1.6 billion bottles.

In 2011, grape wine output in China amounted to 1.1569 billion litres, rising 6.3% from a year earlier. This amounted to the operating revenue of China's wine industry increasing by 21.1% year-on-year to RMB38.46 billion.

Consumption of wine per capita in China is low with merely 1.06 litres in 2011. Compared to traditional wine drinking nations such as France (56 litres), Australia (25 litres) and the UK (19 litres), China is in its infant phase of wine consumption.

Market potential for wine is huge due to the rising middle class and the related higher purchasing power in the urban regions. However, it will take some time for wine to become a mass market in China; only a segment of the developing middle class may be seen as potential consumer.

The Chinese wine market is dominated by domestic wines producers. Industry data shows that the top three wine brands; ChangYu, Great Wall and Dynasty, control approximately 60% of the market.

The national wine enterprises are monopolizing the regional markets. For example, Dynasty had a market share of 44% in 2010 in Shanghai. Although, imported wine is being seen as higher quality, step by step we witness the emergence of high quality domestic wines.

For more information on the Chinese grape wine market, see the latest research: Chinese Grape Wine Market

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