China's largest wine merchant said Thursday it will relocate its headquarters to Hong Kong to benefit from the southern Chinese city's recent waiver of a 40-percent tax on the tipple.

Jointek Fine Wines, which opened its headquarters in Guangzhou in 2000 to import internationally established brands to China, said Hong Kong also had the upper hand over its neighbour in transport and logistics.

"We are hoping to relocate as soon as possible and are currently trying to identify a good spot here for our new headquarters," Tommy Lau, general manager of Jointek, told AFP on Thursday.

"An increasing number of mainland Chinese wine investors are buying their wines in Hong Kong, taking advantage of the tax waiver," said Lau. Mainland China has imposed a wine duty of almost 50 percent, he added.

In February, Hong Kong's government scrapped all duties on wine and beer with its eyes set on turning the city into an international wine hub alongside New York and London.

"But what is equally important is that they also want to have their wines kept in our storage facilities so that they can later export them to overseas buyers. They find the transport and logistics system here efficient, reliable and inexpensive," he said.

Lau said customer demand was such that the company is considering buying a large unit in Hong Kong for storage, on top of a smaller storage facility it is already renting in the city.

The company is also planning to open wine shops in the southern Chinese territory, he added.

Jointek has more than 50 wine shops in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Dongguan. Lau said its sales turnover had doubled in the last three years because of Chinese people's growing thirst for quality western wine.