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People try wine at the 2018 edition of Vinexpo Asia, in Hong Kong. The event is returning to the city this week after being being held in Singapore, but the move is purely transactional on both sides. Photo: Felix Wong
Opinion
Mouthing Off
by Andrew Sun
Mouthing Off
by Andrew Sun

Vinexpo Asia’s Hong Kong return makes sense amid China’s wine boom, but it’s clearly a marriage of convenience

  • Hong Kong hosted the wine trade show Vinexpo Asia for 20 years, but harsh Covid rules saw organisers move the event to Singapore – supposedly permanently
  • Now Vinexpo will return to Hong Kong to tap the growing Chinese market for wine. Business is business, after all, and on that front our frenemy can’t compete
Andrew Sun
Andrew Sun
Why you can trust SCMP

Vinexpo Asia is returning to Hong Kong next week.

The three-day event is one of the leading international wine and spirits industry trade shows. It is back at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Wan Chai, from May 28 to 30.

In 1998, the French organisers chose Hong Kong as their base for Asian expansion with the first regional Vinexpo conference. Since then it has been a biennial affair, and draws thousands of exhibitors and visitors.

With China’s growing interest in wine, it appeared a perfectly happy and prosperous relationship for two decades.
Chinese buyers of fine wine attend the Vinexpo Asia, in Hong Kong, in 2016. Photo: EPA
But then things got rocky. The 2020 show was cancelled as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. It was supposed to return in 2022, but Vinexpo scrapped the trade show again when Hong Kong kept its quarantine and mask-wearing rules while other parts of the world started easing up.
Then it declared the whole operation was moving to Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands complex as a rebranded fair in 2023.
A visitor tries wine at Vinexpo Asia, in Hong Kong, in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong

In a 2022 story for trade publication The Drinks Business, Rodolphe Lameyse, the chief executive of Vinexpo Asia organiser Vinexposium, was quoted as saying: “Hong Kong is not where we want to be in the future […] so we are putting all our means to make Vinexpo successful in Asia using Singapore as a hub.”

Basically, it packed up, moved out and shacked up with Hong Kong’s worst frenemy. To add insult to injury, it essentially told Hong Kong: “It’s not me. It’s you.”

Admittedly, the 2022 conference would have been a waste of time, as travel to Hong Kong was still a headache and masks would have prevented all on-site tasting. But the Singapore relocation was presented as a permanent move.

Rodolphe Lameyse, Vinexposium’s chief executive. Photo: AFP

The funny thing is, less than a year later Vinexpo has come crawling back. I can almost see the organisers begging: “Take us back, baby. I was wrong. We’re better together. I cannot live without you.”

Then again, maybe it was Hong Kong’s administration that did the grovelling. Who knows? Vinexpo Asia “enjoys the active support of the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Hong Kong Tourism Board”, Vinexposium deputy chief executive Laurent Bos is quoted as saying in its 2024 press kit.

I do think this is a marriage of convenience that benefits both partners. Hong Kong is desperate to tell the world it is still attractive. What better way to feel desirable again than to be seen arm in arm with international winemakers, double-kissing them on the cheek?

Also, it’s quite obvious the Vinexpo organisers could not have been truly happy being with Singapore. The event is about business and sales. There’s no way the Lion City could compete with the opportunities that Hong Kong provides.

Think about it: Singapore itself is a tiny market and it is surrounded by hot and tropical Muslim countries that don’t drink alcohol. Who exactly were the French exhibitors going to sell to?

An exhibitor pours a glass of wine during a trade event in Singapore, in 2018. Photo: AFP

Did they think the Aussies would show up en masse? They don’t even like corks.

No, Vinexpo was bound to come back, if not for Hong Kong itself, then to get close to China. Organisers even quoted figures by drinks market analyst IWSR that indicate wine and spirits consumption in China is expected to grow by 19 per cent in value between now and 2027. China is obviously the future for wine business growth.

However, this doesn’t mean Vinexpo will now be faithful. As far as I know, in addition to Hong Kong, it still plans to hold trade events in Singapore in alternate years, and it is also returning to Mumbai in September.

I guess for everyone involved, it’s just business, nothing personal. Everyone is transactional, and that’s the kind of relationship it’s going to be.

C’est la vie.

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