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By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
FILIPINOS are taking to the good
life, as wine consumption in the country has grown steadily over the
past decade, a top wine distributor said.
James Du Vivier, managing
director of Future Trade International said that the Philippine wine
market has been growing by 10 percent over the past 10 years.
“The wine market in the
Philippines is growing very steadily. With the current economic
growth in the country, we can expect consumers to start trading up
and enjoying better quality wines,” Du Vivier said.
He said that imported wine sales
increased by an average 15 percent a year for the past five years.
Close to 400,000 cases, or 40 percent consist of California wines
from the United States.
Du Vivier said emerging Asian
economies like China, India, and the Philippines are experiencing a
steady growth in demand for wines, as more people join the middle
and high-income group with a more upscale taste for high-quality and
healthy products.
“The wine market is very
exciting. With the continued economic growth, people will celebrate
and we can expect them to celebrate with wine. Wine drinking will
become more prevalent in the near future in the Philippines,” he
said.
He said that distributors expect
a continuous growth of the US wine market with a slight shift to the
higher-end varieties such as Robert Mondavi. Shifts from table wines
to medium priced wines were seen at around 3 percent to 5 percent
over the past couple of years and are expected to continue with the
improvement of the economy.
“The wine market has been
growing and the main driver comes from the new world wines. Wines
from the US such as Robert Mondavi are major players in the wine
growth in the Philippines,” he said.
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