In its 5th year ProWine China has become firmly established in Shanghai. During 13-15 November 2018, ProWine China, the ever largest edition so far, saw many high-class business opportunities and rewarding interactions among producers, importers, distributors, key buyers and industry experts.

ProWine China 2018, the latest edition of the ProWein World series of international trade fairs for wine and spirits, concluded on a high note. International exhibitors attested to the high quality of sales leads and valuable new business contacts with industry partners from China. 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. Global wine producers were satisfied to reach the Chinese market through this platform.

ProWine China was held alongside the 22nd edition of Food & Hotel China (FHC 2018), which is China’s premier and most comprehensive food and hospitality trade event. Jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf and UBM, ProWine China 2018 welcomed 750 established wine producers and distributors from 39 countries with 20% increase in exhibition space. What’s significant was the impressive number of trade visitors, total 18,936 attending 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 who were able to view and taste first-hand a wide variety of wine and spirits.

“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, « ProWine China is the only trade fair with this outreach to the entire Mainland China market. »

Paul March, Managing Director of UBM ISO, commented: “ProWine China continues to be a must-attend event for wine and spirit decision makers to discover new market and ideas that can increase development in the enterprise. Our exhibitors and visitors exemplify the industry’s rapid development, evident by the number of new services and product line extensions we’ll see during the fair.”

Multi-Platform for Chinese Importers and Distributions

There was notable local representation at the show, with well-known companies such as Great Wall (COFCO), Easy Cellar and famous associations like Chief Whisky Society. They were able to showcase their products to a wide range of industry players, and met their Chinese counterparts to discuss possibilities for collaboration to increase their business regionally.

Lizhong Chen, General Manager of TIANSAI VINEYARDS stated: “This is my third time to participate in ProWine China which is professional and international as usual. I found that the layout of each production area is very clear, and large number of distributors, and they know their target. 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.”

“I’m an importer from Xuzhou, and I’ve visited ProWine China for 3 years. ProWine China is the best choice among all wine exhibitions in China. Its internationality and professionalism is the most impressive. Compared with last year, I found a lot of wines for example from Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia and Azerbaijan, indicating that ProWine China is becoming more influential. I came here with clear procurement needs and was satisfied with the high quality and variety of the exhibits.” by Rui Yan, manager of Xuzhou Puya Trading Co., Ltd.

Valuable Knowledge from Masterclasses and Seminars

From its beginning, ProWine China was dedicated to wine education. More than 30 masterclasses and seminars throughout the three show days offered participants various knowledge on wine and spirits and latest industry trend.

“For Chinese wine, the professionalism of the whole industry has improved significantly, and consumers can clearly express their needs nowadays. Yesterday I talked with many industry friends, everyone said that ProWine China is an absolutely first-class professional wine exhibition in Mainland China. The content of ProWine China masterclasses is rich and format interactive, and the trade delegates in the masterclasses are very attentive, showing a very strong interest and enthusiasm.” commented by Li Deimei who is Associate Professor of Beijing University of Agriculture, Chairman of ProWine China 2018 Industry Forum.

ProWine China as a hotspot for wine professionals

ProWine China continues to combine the joint force of many wine associations, enterprises and alliances. Insiders are already speaking of a “Shanghai Wine Week” – driven by the growing success of ProWine China. This year, ProWine China and Decanter Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter (17th November) is once again held in the same week in November. In addition, Wine Australia and Sud de France held their wine competition awards ceremony in Shanghai during ProWine China. The founding conference of the “China Wine Union” also took place on the third day of ProWine China 2018. This wine union was created by Mr. Minghao Guo, a well-known Chinese wine expert and key opinion leader.

Yu TIANYU, Executive Vice President, Managing Director of China, Kingston Estate, Australia, commented “For Kingston it is the 3rd time to be at ProWine China. For us, it is very important to be here, because at ProWine China you find the best quality of trade visitors for the whole wine sector in Mainland China. This year we had a lot of traffic and good business contacts. ProWine China is also very important for us, because here we are able to promote our brand intensively. This is crucial for China, because the booming market is very brand driven.”

New Industry Networks Forged for Growing Business in China

Frederic Helfrich, Executive Commercial Director and Family Founder of GCF, expressed his thoughts on ProWine China, representing the views of many international exhibitors, said, “This year’s exhibition has been very successful for us – even better than last year. The fair is very professional and well organized. We had a lot of promising appointments with potential customers.”

Charlie MacLean, Master Blender of Wemyss Malts, commented “My first observation to ProWine China is huge, and thousands of people move around. People come to learn and taste, it works very well. We have lots of positive feedback and useful business contacts. Very happy with the results and I’ll be delighted to come again.”

The next edition of ProWine China will be held in 2019 from 12 to 14 November alongside Food & Hotel China 2019 (FHC 2019). For more information, visit www.prowinechina.com.

The next ProWein in Düesseldorf will take place from 17 to 19 March 2019. ProWein 2019 will be dedicated to its 25th anniversary. Since 1994, ProWein proves to be the No. 1 event for the international industry. Its success is based on a unique visitor concept and unbeatably wide range of products and services. This success concept is expanded to China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

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.