HK will lead billion-dollar boom in region's wine trade, survey finds

Hong Kong will dominate the region's booming trade in wine after scrapping the 40 per cent wine duty and reap valued-added economic benefits expected to top HK$1 billion by 2012, a study has found.

The economic benefits, including the creation of thousands of jobs, were projected to reach almost HK$3 billion by 2017, said Edward Leung Hoi-kwok, the Trade Development Council's chief economist.

The wine market in Asia was predicted to grow by between 10 per cent and 20 per cent annually over the next five years, with the mainland alone expected to import HK$7 billion worth of wine by 2017, the council's study said. The value of wines consumed in the region, excluding Japan, would reach HK$130 billion in 2012 and HK$210 billion by 2017.

Since the government announced two weeks ago that wine duties would be abolished, excitement in the industry has been considerable. Fine-wine auctions are planned and various wine-related businesses intend to set up offices in Hong Kong.

'It's not going to give you the opportunity to become a world wine-trading centre, truly, because of the location of Hong Kong, but you're going to run Asia,' said Gil Lempert-Schwarz, chairman of the Wine Institute of Las Vegas.

On May 31, New York-based Acker Merrall & Condit, the oldest wine merchant in the US, will visit to auction fine wines worth more than US$6 million.