Wine Industry Surged in an Evolving Market

Since the tax on wine was abolished in 2008, sales soared and popularity boomed. With the reviving economy, the wine industry is definitely expanding in terms of total imports, coverage of market segments, product varieties as well as brands. Apparently the tax abolition succeeded to get our city, which has long been a major attraction for tourists coming from all over the world, prepared itself as a wine-trading hub.

Step Ahead and Grasp the Opportunities

The wine market in Hong Kong is considered to be quite a sophisticated one in Asia . Together with mainland China , we have a share of more than 60 per cent of the Asian wine market. Sharp-sighted business professionals certainly will not miss the huge opportunity and many of them wanted to be a part of this surging industry. HKU SPACE College of Business and Finance responded to the rising demand for a professional qualification designed for executives in the wine industry and a Wine MBA programme is jointly offered by the School of Professional and Continuing Education, The University of Hong Kong and the Bordeaux Management School .

The Wine MBA programme is essentially an MBA. It seeks to help students to develop sound managerial thinking through grounding academic knowledge in the practical international wine industry. The business knowledge so acquired could be readily used to configure the wine industry.

Old World vs. New World

A professional seminar was also held on 19 November 2010 , in which Professor Pierre Mora of Bordeaux Management School was invited to speak on the topic of “Wine Consumption and Production Trends in the World.” Professor Mora stated that during the past 20 years, wine production had undergone lots of changes in response to the evolving market trends and the proportion of surface area of vineyards in Europe as compared to other areas worldwide dramatically decreased from nearly 70% in the 1980’s to 58% in 2009. France , Italy and Spain are the three major wine producing European countries, known as the “ Old World ” in wine industry, are having less vineyards. At the same time, the “ New World ” countries, especially China has gained an increased share in the market as reflected by the vineyards established.

Professor Mora also said, “Some of the countries with an increasing agricultural production of grapes are not so well known in the wine industry at present. But ten years from now, the situation may be a lot different and we may possibly see wine produced in Turkey , Iran or Romania emerging in the market.”

Less Consumed, Higher Quality

Trends of grapes production of the 15 leading wine producing countries are more or less the same. One interesting fact is that the total production of grapes in Asia increased from 41% to over half of the global market. “Production of the fruit may be a sign of future change in wine production, but it is still two different issues.” Professor Mora commented.

Regarding wine consumption, Professor Mora pointed out that the domestic market in Europe is not expected to have any growth in the near future. He said, “the lifestyle of European consumers are changing. The total volume of wine consumed is decreasing but the quality of wines consumed is getting higher.”

Participants enjoyed the chance to taste different types of fine wines after the seminar, during which ideas were exchanged in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.

Some of the participants came from Europe and they found the seminar very informative.

Business Connected with Lifestyle

From the facts and analysis presented in the seminar, future development of the wine industry has everything to do with our lifestyle and is closely related to social changes. That may be why Professor Mora reiterated that being a professional in the wine industry takes more than sales and promotion skills. The ability to grasp and understand socio-economic changes is very important. After all, wine and dine is something to be enjoyed with your family and friends, right?