Speakers include Liv-ex director James Miles, journalist Michel Bettane and Yvonne Choi Ying-Pik, the permanent secretary for commerce & economic development for Hong Kong will be at the conference to be held from 3-5 pm on the opening day.
Michael Fridjohn, the well-known South African journalist and jurist has lined up a seminar on November 5th at 2:30 pm where he will talk about the’ Transformation of the Modern Cape Wine Industry,’ followed by an impressive line up of South African wines to make it a memorable tasting, claims Michaela Stander, of Wines of South Africa.
The Show claims to have a 75% increase in participation, up from 240 in the first edition last year. The floor space has also jumped up by 40% from 7,200 in 2008 to 11,000 sq m this year.
Hong Kong wine market is expanding exponentially since last year when the duties were eliminated. Apart from many UK and US auction houses stepping up their activities, many more wholesalers are setting up base and the producers from Australia, South Africa, Italy and even Germany are taking a keen interest in the market through participation at the show.
The first two days of the fair are for trade only, with consumers being also allowed on the last day. Last year’s fair saw 8,700 trade and 10,100 consumers attend, with more people in both groups expected to attend this year. Buyers from 53 countries, including India have already registered.
Indian Wine Academy is also taking a group of importers as the VIP Buyers to the show where they can attend all the conferences besides networking and meeting the 420 producers taking part in the show. This will be the first time when an organized group attends from India and will be led by Subhash Arora who has taken similar groups to Singapore, Vinexpo and Italy in the past.
Sula and Chateau d’Ori have confirmed participation as wine producers, looking for exports and possibly studying the market for setting up bases for exports to the South East Asian market. A group of producers is taking part in the Show through the newly formed Indian National Grape Board- which has taken this laudablel initiative. One hopes more participation by the Indian wines in the international wine shows and the wine competitions abroad. |