The Hong Kong government removed all duty-related customs and administrative controls for wine starting with February 2008, in order to facilitate the development of Hong Kong as a wine trading and distribution center for the region.
Following the deregulation, development of the wine industry has accelerated. Wine imports surged some 80% in the first year, bringing the total to 3,550; the wine sector as a whole gained HK$5.5 billion worth of wine-related business receipts.
Hong Kong has made an agreement with the Mainland Chinese Government, allowing wine imports to go into China under CEPA and enhanced customs facilitation measures. This agreement made the city an unrivalled gateway to China, attracting more and more industry players from around the world to launch or expand their business in Hong Kong.
Growing grapes in Hong Kong is a little bit challenging due to the fact that the weather is not suitable so there is only very little wine production.
After the elimination of import duties in February 2008,Hong Kong’s wine imports have expanded very fast.
Estimated volumes by 43% of the imported wines were re-exported in 2015. The rest – near 57% of wine imports were brought away from Hong Kong by individuals or retained in Hong Kong, for storage or immediate consumption.
Majority of the imported wines originated from European countries such as France and the United Kingdom, but there has also been a significant share coming from Australia in recent years.
So speaking in volume terms, Hong Kong imported 63.4 million liters of wine in 2015, increased 20.9% from the previous year.
In 2015, the imports of wine reached to HK$10.8 billion, more than six times of the value of HK$1.6 billion in 2007.
In the first seven months of 2016, the value of wine imports saw a strong growth of 24.2%.
