NEWS
HONG KONG IMPORTED 39% MORE COGNAC WHILE CHINA BOUGHT 5.3% LESS
By David Ma
21-8-2019
Hong Kong imported 39% more Cognac in the year to end of July reaching 4.3million bottles while China imported 5.3% less at 24.8m bottles, according to data released by Cognac trade association National Interprofessional Bureau of Cognac (BNIC).
Hong Kong was Cognac’s 8th biggest export market while China ranked third after USA and Singapore in the year.
As a whole, Cognac’s popularity continues to improve with export volume up 2.5% reaching 211.1m bottles, by value it’s up 6.3% to EUR3.4billion (USD3.77b).
The USA remained by far the biggest export market, rising 9% to 94.3m bottles.
Singapore was in second place, export volume was, however, flat compared to the year before remained at 26.6m bottles.
In third place was China, the market did not perform well, export volume dropped 5.3% to 24.8m bottles.
Despite weak Chinese performance, the BNIC is confident about the Asian market as a whole. It said that the Asian region offered “significant potential for development”.
Apart from Singapore, China and Hong Kong, the region also include important markets like South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Japan.
Elsewhere, South Africa, Nigeria and the Caribbeans were described by BNIC as "areas with high potential”.
The European market, however, posted an overall decline. Export volumes to important markets like Germany and the UK were down by 6% and 6.7% respectively.
Despite setbacks in China and Europe, the BNIC is planning to expand vineyard areas to cope with increasing global demand.
"The Cognac sector is implementing a medium-term plan for 10,000 hectares of new vines, consistent with its shipping forecasts," the BNIC said.
"Once these new vines are planted, the potential of the vineyard will be 86,000 hectares compared to 76,000 hectares today," it added.
(the writer can be contacted at: DavidMa@thewinechronicle.com)
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