HKTDC Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair 2010: Australia to be the “Partner Country”
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Australia will be featured as the “Partner Country” in Hong Kong’s premier wine and spirits event, the HKTDC Hong Kong Wine & Spirits Fair 2010 (Wine Fair). Australia is a leading supplier of both casual drinking and top value wines to Hong Kong and a close partner with the Hong Kong Government and wine trade to promote Hong Kong as Asia’s wine hub.
The Australian Government’s trade and investment promotion agency, the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) signed an agreement today to launch the partnership program at next year’s Fair.
“Australia had the largest number of exhibitors at the inaugural Wine Fair in 2008, and this year we almost doubled our size again to have the largest number of exhibitors totalling 65 wineries from across the breadth of Australia,” said Australian Consul-General, Mr Les Luck, who witnessed the signing ceremony. “This is another sign of Australia’s recognition of Hong Kong’s growing reputation as a prime international wine market.
Since the signing of the Australia-Hong Kong memorandum of understanding on wine-related business in April 2009, Australian wine industry representatives have intensified the promotion of wine tourism and culture, education and training in Hong Kong’s development as a regional wine hub.
Responding to the abolition of wine import duties, Australian wine exports to Hong Kong have increased in the 12 months to June 2009 by 60% by volume, up from 19% in the preceding 12 months. More than 7.4 million litres – or over 820,000 cases were imported into Hong Kong, compared with 4.5 million litres in 2008. HKTDC’s Executive Director Fred Lam welcomes Australia as the partner country for the 2010 Fair, “Hong Kong is steadily emerging as a wine-trading hub for Asia, where consumption of the beverage is expected to grow by 10 per cent to 20 per cent a year for the foreseeable future. Hong Kong alone saw its wine imports soar by 40 per cent in the first nine months of 2009. With growing demand from the mainland and other Asian countries, we expect our wine imports to continue to climb, and we look forward to helping Australia tap this rich opportunity.”
Many premium Australian wines are already sold to fine restaurants and hotels in Hong Kong, proving to be a good complement to a wide variety of cuisines, in particular Chinese and other Asian dishes .
“ I am really pleased to announce that Australian wineries have dominated the Awards and Medals at the first Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition – 12 out of 32 have gone to Australian wines,” said Mr Luck.
As well as established names, new-to-market wines from all corners of Down Under were introduced at the Fair, as diverse as the Northern Territory’s mango wines and mango liqueur, Tasmanian sparkling white and red varietals as well as special boutique wines from regions as diverse at Margaret River in Australia’s west, to Hunter Valley in the east.
“The Australian wine industry, which is the 4 th largest wine exporting country, is keen to use next years’ Wine Fair to continue to introduce new and exciting wines and spirits to the sophisticated palates of Hong Kong consumers and to use Hong Kong as a platform to further develop our markets in mainland China and the rest of Asia,” said Mr Luck.
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