“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 the future. With overseas exhibitor participation at 80% and coming from 39 countries, this reinforces the strategic position the exhibition plays in fulfilling the needs and demands for such a dedicated platform in the Chinese market. ProWine China is the only trade fair with this outreach to the entire Mainland China market,” said Marius Berlemann, Global Head of Wine & Spirits and Director at ProWein at Messe Düsseldorf.
Paul March, Managing Director of UBM ISO, added: “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 trade 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 renowned associations like Chief Whisky Society. They were able to showcase their products to a wide range of industry players and meet 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 participating in ProWine China which is professional and international as usual. The layout of each production area is very clear, there is a large number of distributors and they know their target. To us ProWine is 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 three years. It is the best choice among all wine exhibitions in China. Its internationality and professionalism is 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”, explained 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 information on wines 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 and everyone said that ProWine China is an absolutely first-class professional wine exhibition in Mainland China. The content of the ProWine China masterclasses is rich with an interactive format and the trade delegates in the masterclasses are very attentive, showing a very strong interest and enthusiasm,” commented by Li Deimei, Associate Professor at the Beijing University of Agriculture and Chairman of the ProWine China 2018 Industry Forum.
ProWine China as a hotspot for wine professionals
ProWine China continues to combine the strength 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 (November 17) were 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 and Managing Director of China at Kingston Estate from Australia, remarked: “For Kingston it is the third 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, representing the views of many international exhibitors, said: “This year’s exhibition has been very successful for us – even better than last year. The trade 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 about ProWine China is that it is huge, with thousands of people moving around. People come to learn and taste, it works very well. We have lots of positive feedback and useful business contacts. We are very happy with the results and I’ll be delighted to come again.”
The next edition of ProWine China will be held from November 12 – 14, 2019 in Shanghai, concurrently with Food & Hotel China 2019 (FHC 2019). Messe Düsseldorf’s wine trade fair portfolio also includes the No1. event for the sector – ProWein – celebrating its 25th anniversary from March 17 – 19, 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its success concept is expanded to China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. ProWine Asia will take place from March 7 – 10, 2019 in Hong Kong and from March 31 – April 3, 2020 in Singapore.
For further information on visiting or exhibiting at ProWine China 2019, ProWein 2019, ProWine Asia 2019 and 2020, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit www.prowinechina.com, www.prowein.com, www.prowineasia.com and http://www.mdna.com
