Due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Macau's wine imports fell by nearly 47 percent to about 245 million patacas in the first half of the year, public broadcaster Radio Macau/TDM reported this week.
According to the report, which referred to unspecified statistics obtained by Radio Macau, the city's wine imports in the first six months of last year amounted to 460 million patacas.
Tuesday's report pointed out that French wines had a market share of 72 percent in Macau in the first six months, followed by Australia (12 percent) and Portugal (six percent).
The Portuguese-language radio station quoted Macau Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) F&B and Oenology lecturer Hugo Bandeira as saying that the decrease in wine imports had been expected due to the COVID-19 crisis. Bandeira was quoted as saying that even before the health menace, Macau had already had an overstock of wine, adding that wine sales in supermarkets dropped in the wake of the novel coronavirus crisis, and wine consumption in restaurants, hotels and resorts also declined because of the lack of large-scale events and banquets since early this year.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22. All of the city's 46 novel coronavirus patients have meanwhile been cured and discharged from hospital.
Bandeira said he expected the downward trend to continue in the second half of the year as restaurant and hotel operators as well as distributors were not expecting a fast recovery of the wine market.
According to Bandeira, who holds a Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits from London's Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), the average export price of Portuguese wines stands at just 34 patacas, the lowest of imported wines in Macau, compared to French wines' average price of 594 patacas and Australian wines' 120 patacas per litre.
According to the report, Macau imported Portuguese wine worth 13.5 million patacas in the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 44.8 percent. In terms of quantity, the amount of imported Portuguese wine decreased by 120,000 litres between January and June.
Trade sources told The Macau Post Daily today that beer continues to be Macau's most popular alcoholic beverage. According to the sources, Tsingtao remains the city's best-selling beer brand.
