ProWine China 2018 has celebrated its biggest show this year with record numbers of visitors as the Chinese market opens to the wine sector.
ProWine China 2018, is the latest edition of the ProWein World series of international trade fairs for wine and spirits, was held from 13 to 15 November 2018.
It welcomed 750 established wine producers and distributors from 39 countries with 20% increase in exhibition space. Trade visitor numbers hit a total 18,936 for the three-day trade event, which is an increase of 33.2% compared with ProWine China 2017. More visitors came from provinces and cities like Beijing, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Hainan, Shandong, Liaoning and Fujian, it reported.
The exhibition featured a multi-national selection of wines and spirits, with pavilions from established wine producing countries including Australia, Austria, Chile, Spain, Germany, Italy and France among others.
The event was held alongside the 22nd edition of Food & Hotel China (FHC 2018), which is China’s premier food and hospitality trade event.
“The response to this year's event shows that ProWine China is now established as the leading exhibition in Mainland China. We are thrilled to continue to be a place where professionals from the sector can connect, discuss and showcase, and look forward to continuing the tradition in future.
“With overseas exhibitor participation at 80% hailing from 39 countries, this reinforces the strategic position that the exhibition plays in fulfilling the needs and demands for such a dedicated platform in the Chinese market,” said Marius Berlemann, global head of Wine & Spirits and director of ProWein, Messe Düsseldorf GmbH.
Lizhong Chen, general manager of Tiansai Vineyards, said: “This is my third time to participate in ProWine China which is professional and international as usual.
To us ProWine is more a platform that brings together quality distributors and buyers, while domestic wineries and foreign exhibitors can compete on the same stage. We will definitely continue to participate in ProWine China next year.”
More than 30 masterclasses and seminars were also held throughout the three show days.
The next edition of ProWine Asia will take place from 7 to 10 May 2019 in Hong Kong and 31 March to 3 April 2020 in Singapore.