The International Wine Expo was held yesterday in Shanghai and about 200 foreign wine companies had set up booths in the expo. They had put the focus on low-price products, marketing the budget big-barrel wine and giving away cash coupons.

An official from the local liquor authority in Shanghai expects the supply of foreign-branded wine to rise 30 percent this year as foreign wine brewers are going great lengthens to spur sales.

It has been over ten years since the first foreign wine company built up its presence in Shanghai. The import duty on wine has already been held down from 43 percent to 14 percent since then. Wine imported from Europe has been dominating the market for China. But now wine makers from the some American countries such as the US, Canada, and Chile are flocking into China. Wine makers from America and Europe take about 80 percent of booths of the expo.

The aggressive expansion of foreign wine brands to China is a product of the faltering domestic demand in the US and Europe due to the financial morass.