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HK a wine-friendly city

November 09, 2017

Financial Secretary Paul Chan

Hong Kong is one of the world's most business-friendly - and wine-friendly - cities.

 

It starts with a welcome absence of taxes. There's no wine duty here, and no tariff or GST (goods and services tax) or VAT (value-added tax), making your wine more affordable and attractive to buyers.

 

We are also home to the world's first wine-storage certification scheme, and boast a multitalented, multilingual team of wine and culinary professionals from all over the world.

 

In fact, with seven-fold growth over the past decade, the future of Hong Kong's wine business looks very bright.

 

Last year alone, we imported more than 60 million litres of wine from over 50 countries and regions - a record value exceeding US$1.5 billion. That is equivalent to more than 80 million bottles of wine. With a population of just about 7.3 million, we didn't empty all the 80 million bottles ourselves - about half of the wine imported into Hong Kong was re-exported.

 

It shouldn't surprise anyone here that the massive market of the Mainland of China is the key destination of our wine re-exports.

 

Hong Kong's re-exports to the Mainland have increased almost 35 times over the past 10 years.

 

Our wine customs facilitation scheme with the Mainland has given Hong Kong wine traders instant customs clearance of wine entering five Mainland customs districts, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. I am pleased to share with you the good news that this arrangement will be extended, with immediate effect, to all 42 customs districts right across the Mainland.

 

These, and a good many other advantages, underline Hong Kong's hub role for international wine companies looking to spread bottled pleasures across the fast-moving Asia-Pacific wine market.

 

Financial Secretary Paul Chan gave these remarks at the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair 2017 on November 9.



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