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(Last updated: 21 Nov 2011)
Trends and opportunities
The market
In 2010, the wine market was around 15 million litres valued at around US$84.7 million. Australia accounts for about 10.4 per cent of the import wine market by dollar value after France (51.3 per cent), followed by the US (9.9 per cent) and then Chile (8.7 per cent).
The average price per litre of exports to Taiwan from France was US$8.24 per litre, which is higher than average price (US$6.01) of the total Australian wine to Taiwan. The average price from France had been much lower than from Australia before for years. The main reason is the greatly reduced volume imported of low price French Vin de Pays and regional AOC Bordeaux, while the premium wine segment from Bordeaux and Burgundy remains strong. In particular, the average price to Taiwan from Burgundy is more than US$18 per litre.
The low price segment market share is now filled by Argentinean, Chilean and Spanish wines. The wine from these countries has more similarity to Australian mid-price range wines than French wines, therefore creating strong competition in market.
(Source: Bureau of Foreign Trade website database, September 2010)
Opportunities
The consumer behaviour in Taiwan has led to an M-Style society. Middle price range (FOB A$80–A$250 per case) has become the most difficult segment and therefore requires more effort to be successful. Today, consumers are either willing to pay for the most premium/famous wines, or buying as cheap as possible wines from supermarkets and hypermarkets.
While the low price wines (FOB A$30–A$80 a case) still remain the largest sales volume, this segment has been dominated by Chilean and Argentina wines due to the strong Australian dollar and higher production cost of Australian wines. Thus the premium range (FOB A$250+), and limited release and collectable items have become the most important segments for Australian wine producers and Taiwanese importers..
Competitive environment
The local taste preferences are very complicated, but are strongly influenced by French wine growers and the US media, such as Wine Advocate, Decanter and Wine Spectator. The wine choices in Taiwan are vast, as retailers will sell different brands of wine at different price segments and competition is very strong.
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