Coronavirus: Wine dealers cheers return of confidence in China
Sales of fine wine and spirits in China recovered quickly in March after a sharp contraction due to the coronavirus epidemic, a rare sign of optimism that confidence could return to the global economy sooner rather than later.
Sales through global merchant BI Wine & Spirits were up by 25 per cent in March as lockdown began to be lifted across the Asian country.
Despite fears of a virus hangover, the party mood in Asia ensured that global fine wine and spirit sales were similar to March 2019, the firm said.
Read more: Chinese economy shrinks for the first time in decades
Though China’s economy shrank by more than 6 per cent in the first quarter, that doesn’t appeared to have dampened spirits towards the end of the period.
Gary Boom, Director of BI, said: “We certainly saw a softening in demand from Asia at the start of the year, but there has been an exceptional bounce back in recent weeks, which is a hugely encouraging sign that consumer confidence is returning to China.”
The firm also said that fine wine values on its stock exchange had remained stable in comparison to the fluctuations of the wider stock market.
Rare wine is now one of the world’s leading alternative asset classes.