New Opportunities for Spanish Wine Exports to China

The world’s longest train route, from Yiwu, China to Madrid, offers plenty of opportunities for Spanish bodegas.

China is the world’s leading wine importer, and Spanish wines from Rioja are especially popular among consumers there.

Spanish producers have a new and interesting way to get their products to Asia: the Yixinou train, which connects Yiwu, in China, and Madrid. It is the longest rail route in the world.

This is good news for the wine industry in particular. The Director of Food and Gastronomy at ICEX, Ines Menendez de Luarca, said “We believe it can be a very interesting opportunity in terms of logistics, exporting wine to Yiwu and from there to distribute it throughout the country.”

Although the train is already being used by some companies to export their products, by and large it is relatively unknown and, indubitably, more Spanish producers would benefit from using it.

China is a very important market for wine; in fact, it’s the world’s leading importer. Spain plays a big role in that market, ranking fourth among exporters. The main importer cities are Shanghai and Guangdong, although Nanjing, Xiamen and Hangzhou are also seeing a boost in wine consumption. Rioja is Spain’s most popular wine export. In fact, exports of that wine expanded by 35% in 2015.

Spain has also advanced in terms of the types of wines it exports. It used to export bulk wine but has since shifted to bottled wine. Says Menendez de Luarca, “This is good news for us because what Spain needs is to position its wines in higher-end models so that Chinese consumers pay more for our high-quality wines.”

Author: Samara Kamenecka/©ICEX