Can Hong Kong Uncork Trading Of Wine in China?
By JONATHAN CHENG
May 29, 2008

Picture: Does it have what it takes? A man examines a glass of wine from Spain during a tasting at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

As the global wine industry converges here this week to crack open the mainland Chinese market, this city is touting its prospects as a regional nexus for trade in wine.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong officially zeroed out its taxes on wine, and on Saturday morning the city will host a US$6.5 million auction of vintages, billed as the largest ever in Asia. Local importers, meanwhile, are scrambling to secure warehouse space for more bottles or, in some cases, build their own cellars.

“We already have the world-class infrastructure, logistics, financial and communication systems required and, more importantly, the discerning palate and ample appetite to become a wine trading and distribution center in Asia,” said Henry Tang, Hong Kong’s chief secretary, Tuesday at the opening of Vinexpo, a wine exhibition that splits its annual gatherings between the French region of Bordeaux and cities such as New York and Hong Kong. There are 692 exhibitors from 32 countries at the Hong Kong expo this year.

Since the government announced its plan to slash duties on the import of wine from 40% to zero in its annual budget two months ago, wine imports have more than doubled by volume and more than tripled by value from a year earlier, said Mr. Tang.

Kevin Tang (no relation to Henry Tang), managing director of Hong Kong-based distributor Concord Wines, is wasting no time taking advantage of the new playing field.

He already has more than 70,000 bottles of wine stored in Hong Kong for the local market, but within six months, he says, he will build his own temperature- and humidity-controlled cellar right by Hong Kong’s main port — a move he says would cut costs and allow his company to “shift to a regional business.” Restaurants, clubhouses and hotels in Hong Kong have been his main market, but Mr. Tang says 30% of his sales will come from neighbors like Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and mainland China by the end of the year.

“Having the wine here really cuts down the shipping time,” says Mr. Tang’s sales manager, Francis Luk. “Before, if someone ordered a wine from France, it would take two months to get here. From here, we can fill an order in a few days.”

A number of importers and merchants scouring Vinexpo shrugged their shoulders at the new measures. Hong Kong, while affluent, is a small market next to juicier prizes like mainland China, where conference organizer Vinexpo Overseas expects 13% growth a year in wine consumption over the next five years. China is the 10th-largest wine-consuming nation in the world, according to a 2008 study conducted partly by Vinexpo, accounting for 62.7% of all the wine consumed — or 658 million bottles — in Asia in 2006.

“If I’m trying to get into the China market, why would I ship my wine to Hong Kong and pay for storage here when I could just go straight to the destination?” says Ken Chan of Phi Cargo Services, a Hong Kong shipping company that works with wine importers. The company has operations in mainland China.

“I think everyone likes to position Hong Kong as a springboard into China, but the reality is, if you want to do business in China, you have to do business in China — there is no substitute,” says Simon Tam, a winemaker who has run popular wine-education programs in Hong Kong for nearly two decades.

And Hong Kong, while moving to slash taxes, still lacks the high-tech storage facilities that have made London and New York top-flight wine destinations. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m the wine hub,’ and that’s it,” says Robert Beynat, chief executive of Vinexpo Overseas.

Still, in an interview this week, Mr. Beynat praised Hong Kong as “a natural hub” for the industry in Asia. “It’s right in the middle of the map, whether you’re talking about Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai or Tokyo,” he says. Among Hong Kong’s other advantages, he says: an abundance of tycoons, world-class hotels, wine knowledge and now, a tax-free environment.

Tom Sherwood, marketing manager at the Hong Kong office of British wine merchants Farr Vintners, says there was a “huge, huge spike” in orders after the government’s decision to end the wine tax, keeping his staff in the office until after midnight for two weeks.

“It’s the concentration of the companies, the talent, the people working in the industry,” Mr. Sherwood says. “If they’re based here, this is where the business is going to be done. Hong Kong is next to the mainland and to Macau, in a convenient central location, with a strong history as a shipping port, and now the tax situation…. If you want to sell, or if you want to buy, you’re going to have to come to Hong Kong.”

Winemaker Mr. Tam acknowledges the obstacles but sees a key role for Hong Kong as a tastemaker and example for China and the rest of Asia.

“I can envision in three years Hong Kong being a dream place for the industry, with a lot of personalities and authorities and knowledge,” he says. “That’s a model for China to perhaps tear apart and reconfigure.”

Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com.

Source & Credits: The Wall Street Journal (US).

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香港能否開放交易的葡萄酒在中國呢？
由喬納森成
2008年5月29日

圖片：是否有什麼需要？一名男子審查一杯葡萄酒由西班牙期間，品嚐在vinexpo亞太地區在香港的週三。

作為全球葡萄酒業的收斂這個星期在這裡打開了一道缺口，中國內地市場，這個城市是兜攬生意的前景，作為一個區域的聯繫，為貿易的葡萄酒。

對週三，香港正式鎖定其稅，酒，對週六上午市將主辦650萬美元拍賣年份，帳單作為有史以來規模最大的在亞洲。當地的進口商，同時，紛紛以確保倉庫的空間，更瓶，或在某些情況下，建立自己的酒窖。

“我們已經擁有了世界級的基建設施，物流，金融和通信系統所需的，更重要的是，辨識上腭和充足的胃口，成為葡萄酒貿易及分銷中心在亞洲，說： ”唐英年，香港的政務司司長，週二在開幕式上的vinexpo ，葡萄酒展覽分裂，其年度之間的聚會，法國波爾多地區和城市如紐約和香港。有692參展商來自32個國家在香港博覽會今年。

自從政府宣布計劃大幅削減進口稅的葡萄酒40 ％至零在其發表的年度財政預算案兩個月前，葡萄酒的進口增加了一倍多，由數量和增加了兩倍多，以價值計算，從去年同期的說，先生，唐。

凱文唐（沒有關係，唐英年） ，董事總經理，總部設在香港的分銷商康科德葡萄酒，是浪費，沒有時間考慮利用新的公平的競爭環境。

他已經有超過7.0萬瓶葡萄酒儲存在香港本地市場，但在6個月內，他說，他將建立自己的溫度和濕度控制的地窖中的權利，香港的主要港口-動議，他說會削減成本，並讓他的公司“轉移到一個區域的業務” 。餐廳，會所及酒店業在香港已被他的主要市場，但唐先生說， 30 ％的他的銷售將來自鄰國如台灣，南韓，新加坡和中國大陸在今年年底。

“有酒在這裡真的降低了出貨時間，說： ”唐先生的銷售經理，弗朗西斯豪。 “之前，如果有人訂購了葡萄酒由法國，它將採取二個月到這裡，從這裡，我們可以填補的命令在幾天之內” 。

一些進口商和商人沖刷vinexpo聳聳肩，他們的肩膀上，在新措施。香港，而富裕，是一個很小的市場旁邊的juicier獎品一樣，中國大陸，那裡會議組織者vinexpo海外，預計13 ％的增長，每年在葡萄酒的消費量在未來五年內。中國是第十大葡萄酒消費國，在世界上，根據一項2008年進行的研究，部分是由vinexpo ，佔62.7 ％ ，所有的葡萄酒消費-或6 .58億瓶-在亞洲在2 0 06年。

“如果我試圖進入中國市場，為何我會船舶我的葡萄酒，以香港和支付存儲在這裡時，我可以直行到目的地” ？肯說，陳披貨運服務，香港船務公司表示，工程與葡萄酒進口商。該公司的業務在中國大陸。

“我認為每個人都喜歡將香港定位為跳板進入中國，但現實情況是，如果你想在中國做生意，你要在中國做生意-是不可替代的，說： ”西蒙譚，釀酒誰遇到了流行的葡萄酒教育計劃，在香港近20年。

和香港，而提出要削減稅收，仍然缺乏高科技的貯存設施，已取得了倫敦和紐約的頂級葡萄酒的飛行目的地。 “你不能只是說， ‘我是葡萄酒樞紐的地位， ‘就是這樣，說： ”羅伯特beynat ，行政長官vinexpo海外。

不過，在接受記者採訪時，這週先生， beynat稱讚香港為“自然的樞紐” ，為業界在亞洲。 “它的權利，在中東的地圖，無論您在談到新加坡，北京，上海或東京， ”他說。其中香港的其他優點，他說：豐富的鉅子，世界級的酒店，葡萄酒的知識和現在，是免稅的環境。

湯姆舍伍德，營銷經理，在香港辦事處的英國商人法爾葡萄酒酒商說，有一個“巨大的，龐大的穗”的命令後，政府的決定，結束葡萄酒稅，使他的工作人員在辦公室，直到午夜後為2週。

“它的濃度的公司，人才，工作的人，在業界， ”先生舍伍德說。 “如果他們基於此，這是如該業務是去工作要做。香港是明年向內地和澳門，在方便的中央位置，具有強烈的歷史作為航運港口，現在納稅情況….如果你想出售，或者，如果您想購買，您將會有來港“ 。

釀酒先生，譚議員承認的障礙，但看到的一個關鍵的角色，香港作為一個品味大師r和榜樣，為中國和其他亞洲國家。

“我可以設想在三年香港是一個夢想的地方，為業界，有很多知名人士和當局和知識， ”他說。 “這是一個模型，為中國，也許撕毀，除了和重新配置” 。

寫信給喬納森鄭在jonathan.cheng @ wsj.com 。

來源及學分：華爾街日報（美國)。