Santé!

The import of wines to the territory increased two per cent in 2014 to MOP1.461 billion-worth from MOP1.432 billion in 2013, Rádio Macau reported yesterday. According to the Portuguese-speaking radio station, French wines continue to be the tipple of preference and increased exports to the SAR by three per cent, following a drop of 16 per cent in 2013. Last year, French wine imports were valued at MOP1.128 billion.
“France is one of the countries with more demand in terms of wine. The trend in the Macau wine market follows the global trend. France has always been the queen of sales in terms of wine”, the Food and Beverage Manager at the Institute for Tourism Studies, Hugo Bandeira, told Rádio Macau.
The second most import wine in Macau comes from Australia, which has increased its sales in the territory by 44 per cent in 2014 to MOP116 million, an increase of MOP36 million from MOP80 million in 2013. This rapid increase has enabled Australian wines to grab 7 per cent of the wine market share.
Portugal’s wines place third at MOP58.5 million, a decrease of four per cent from MOP62 million in relation to 2013, occupying four per cent market share. Of the wine finding its way from Portugal to the SAR, 67 per cent is red, while port and white wine take 9 per cent of the share.
In spite of the decline, wine is the product most exported from Portugal to the territory.
“Most people that choose wines to import to Macau have limited knowledge about Portuguese wines. So it’s natural that they prefer wines from Australia or France over the Portuguese”, Bandeira explained.
Fourth place in terms of share is occupied by German wines. The import of products from Deutschland, however, dropped by 33 per cent from around MOP69 million in 2013 to MOP46 million during 2014.
Wines from the United States (5th), Chile (6th), Italy (7th), Spain (8th) and South Africa (9th) rank next.