Grape press: South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, and France

By Jim Boyce

Some links to a bunch of news stories linked to China’s wine sector:

Chile and China signed a “free trade service trade pact” on April 13 that follows up on the free trade agreement signed in 2005. According to Xinhua, “bilateral trade soared 65 percent year on year to 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, up from the 23.9 annual growth of 2006. Last year, Chilean exports to China surged 79 percent to 10.3 billion U.S. dollars, boosted by copper and grape wine trade.” Let’s hope the service trade pact also sees some Chilean wine makers flowing over here.

“Bordeaux should not pin hopes on Asian market” is the sobering headline of a recent Decanter that suggests expectations that Asian buyers will snap up the 2007 vintage might be dampened by concerns about pricing, the global economy, and a “fatigued” market, among others factors.

To mark the tenth anniversary of its diplomatic ties with China, South Africa held an “SA Week” in Guangdong Province. “In a bid to promote SA’s growing wine industry, organisers have arranged a food and wine exhibition with wine-tasting to showcase SA’s leading brands and the country’s unique indigenous cuisine,” states Business Day. Similar events are planned from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing this year.

China and New Zealand signed a free trade deal on April 7. According to China Daily:

When the deal goes into effect October 1, New Zealand exports to China that now face tariffs of 5 percent or less will be cut to zero.

There will be a staggered time frame for cuts on New Zealand exports that face larger tariffs, with 31 percent of New Zealand’s exports to China tariff free by 2013.

Tariffs on dairy products, a primary New Zealand export, will be phased out over a longer time frame, taking until 2019 when almost all of the country’s current exports to China will be tariff free.

Let’s hope it lowers those Sauvignon Blanc prices. New Zealand’s Parliament must still formally ratify the agreement.

Finally, this CCTV piece might be considered by some as a nominee in the “stating the obvious” category – French wines becomes popular in China.

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