2008 COULD BE AN OLYMPIC YEAR FOR ITALY AS WELL. GROWING INTEREST ON THE CHINESE MARKET FOR ITALIAN WINE AT THE UPCOMING OLYMPICS IN BEIJING, THE 2010 EXPO IN SHANGHAI, AND THE BOOM IN MACAO

China is the tip of an enormous iceberg that is about to emerge according to a focus study by Vinitaly in Verona. For Italian wine, China is a dream that, year after year, is becoming a reality thanks to slow but continuous growth and expected deregulations that will favour this market with enormous potential. And, according to the experts, it will be worthwhile to be patient and follow through with the process of getting Italian wine known on the market of the most populated country in the world.

Today, regular wine consumers in China are only about 10 million but, according to the data that was presented at Vinitaly 2008, there is a market potential of about 5-10% of the total population: about one hundred million consumers who will be uncorking 750 million bottles of wine. In 2011 these numbers should double. For this reason, analysts consider the Westernization of the Chinese market a vital, if slow, process due to the cultural differences between these two worlds.

"The Shanghai World Expo 2010 and the Olympics" – explained Giovanni Mantovani – "will be a true test as well as an opportunity for the image of Italian wine. There is great potential for Macao, considered the Las Vegas of China with its 30 casinos and 30,000 hotel rooms, which, until now, has been dominated by French and Portuguese offers. But the 6 euro price range, which is the price range that is expected to grow in consumption with three digit numbers, is precisely the range that Italian wines fit into.

For now, Italian imports represent only 5% of total imports to China, and France claims 45%. Italy is preceded only by Australia and has registered growth of 177%.

This is a remarkable increase that has occurred notwithstanding a distribution system at only its initial phase and customs taxes that, though lower than in the past, are still very high. Giorgio Serra, director of Sviluppo Progetti Vino di Buonitalia, commented: "To conquer wealthy Chinese it will be important to use quality Italian products that are best adapted to the millenary traditions of Chinese cooking".