China’s importation of overseas wines nearly rebounded in the first half of 2021.
The Chinese state imported US$818.5 million worth of wines abroad between January and June, which was 2% lesser than the value recorded in the same months last year, according to data from China’s Customs.
In the stated period, France overtook Australia as the country’s most preferred wine import source. This came months after China’s imposition of over 200% tariffs on Australian wines.
Most of China’s wine imports in the first six months of the year were French wines, which value climbed by 57% to US$343 million.
Meanwhile, Australian wine imports fell to just US$49.6 million from US$316 million a year ago. Australia, however, has a gloomier figure of A$13 million or almost US$10 million in value of exports to China, based on Wine Australia data.
China also saw growth in the value of its imported wines from Chile, Italy and Spain, rising by 46%, 50% and 44, respectively.
A new entrant to the top 10 list was South Africa, where China bought US$14.7 million wines in the Jan-June period, almost twice from last year’s level. Portugal, which was previously the eighth preferred wine import source, was pushed out of the top 10 list.
By bottle categories, China bought more imported sparkling wines in the first half of 2021, expanding its importation by 80% to US$50.8 million.
It also imported 16% more bottled wines of over 2 liters to US$59 million, while it bought 6% lesser bottled wines of 2 liters and below from overseas to US$709 million.
China’s Wine Imports 1H 2021 vs 1H 2020
| Rank | Country | Value in 2021 | Value in 2020 | % Change |
| 1 | France | 343,319,803 | 218,662,168 | +57% |
| 2 | Chile | 159,035,923 | 109,028,887 | +46% |
| 3 | Italy | 83,975,785 | 56,048,134 | +50% |
| 4 | Spain | 71,964,887 | 49,954,767 | +44% |
| 5 | Australia | 49,574,221 | 317,555,124 | -84% |
| 6 | United States | 19,945,278 | 10,890,947 | +83% |
| 7 | Argentina | 16,670,069 | 13,733,109 | +21% |
| 8 | South Africa | 14,744,114 | 7,549,142 | +95% |
| 9 | Germany | 12,251,449 | 8,021,244 | +53% |
| 10 | New Zealand | 10,382,222 | 7,995,922 | +30% |
| Total | 818,546,111 | 831,619,180 | -2% |
Bottled Wines 1H 2021 vs 1H 2020
| Bottled Wine Size | Value in 2021 | Value in 2020 | % Change |
| Sparkling | 50,825,945 | 28,248,810 | +80% |
| 2L or less | 709,162,303 | 752,789,983 | -6% |
| Over 2L | 58,553,587 | 50,570,110 | +16% |
