China saw a steep drop in wine consumption last year as the COVID-19 pandemic affected production and as a result of competition with imported wines.
The latest report from the Paris-based International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) showed wine consumption in the country fell 17% in 2020 compared to the previous year given various issues.
For one, according to OIV director general Pau Roca, was the structural changes in the Chinese wine industry. These include production decline in vineyards and competition with imported wines.
Another factor was how the prevailing lockdown due to the pandemic “killed” consumption scenes like business dinners, family gatherings, and marriage ceremonies which usually involve wine drinking, explained Dr. Qin Ma in a Forbes report.
Main wine consuming countries in 2020
Source: OIV Global Wine Consumption in 2020
Still, China was the sixth-largest consumer of wine last year.
Meanwhile, Japan, also a huge wine-consuming nation, saw its consumption slid by 1% in the same period.
Overall, global wine consumption fell by 3% last year to about 6.2 billion gallons, dragged down by the impact of the ongoing pandemic. Brazil was the only country that saw more wine drinking, recording an 18% surge, while there was no difference in the year-on-year consumption of wine in the United States and France, both top consumers last year.
Further, OIV estimated that the industry’s total exports declined by 6.7% to around US$35.6 billion (231.39 billion yuan).
Despite the figures, Roca says the industry will recover “more or less quite fast,” citing that global production was up by 1% to 260 million hectoliters last year, while supply and demand are “not that apart.”
