Hong Kong the toast of the wine auction world

Hong Kong is likely to overtake the United States as the world's biggest wine auction centre this year with sales of about US$100 million.

This comes two years after duty on wine was scrapped in the city and will help cement its position as a global player for wine auctions.

First-half results show wine sales of more than HK$400 million - exceeding the record US$50.7 million global sales achieved in the whole of last year by 2009 leader Zachys.

Wine consultant David Wainwright, formerly with Christie's international wine department, said Hong Kong would probably surpass the US if wine sales in the second half of the year matched the first half. Given the robust demand for fine wines in Asia and on the mainland, he said Hong Kong would continue to lead the global wine auction market for at least five years.

The US wine market suffered a 36 per cent drop to US$106.05 million last year with New York sales falling one-third to US$72.38 million. Total global sales fell to US$233.35 million from US$276 million in 2008.

Wainwright said part of Hong Kong's meteoric ascent up the ranks of global wine sales comes at the expense of the US as major auction houses such as Sotheby's and Acker Merrall & Condit shift more of their wine stocks - that would have been sold in the US - to Hong Kong in the hope of achieving higher prices.