Chinese government claims local wine segment is open to abuse

摘要

THE Chinese government is growing concerned at the level of wine smuggling in the country as traders look to evade what they see as excessive import taxes and profit from the booming demand for wine. The speed at which China's wine market is growing is evident in GTIS statistics. In the January-May period of 2011, China imported nearly 142 million litres of bulk wine, up 47% on 96.3 million litres in the same period of 2010, and up from 14 million litres in 2001. Bottled wine imports reached 84.5 million litres in January-May, an increase of 63% on the equivalent period of 2010, and up massively from just 850 000 litres in 2001.