Wine consumption in China: profiling the 21st century Chinese wine consumer

Abstract

This article determines the factors that influence Chinese wine consumption and, thus, contribute to define an average Chinese wine consumer profile for the years 2000 to 2014. The article proposes a model that explains the variations in the consumption of wine in China, because of traditional factors of the theory of demand (price of wine, income, and price of a substitute good), and sociodemographic factors (age, gender, marital status, level of education, geographical area, and tourism activities). The article reveals that an increased income, a married marital status, living in an urban area, and tourism activities, significantly and positively contributed to the increase of wine consumption in China. In addition, the article demonstrates that wine is not a substitute of beer in China, and that it is hard to associate an increase of wine consumption with the gender and the educational level of the average Chinese. In contrast, age negatively and significantly influenced the wine consumption in China, meaning that wine consumers are becoming younger.