The UK drinks industry must reassess the way it distributes & sells wine if it is to remain competitive & attractive to worldwide producers, warned Robert Beynat, CE of Vinexpo. He said the UK trade has to "invent" new ways of working that allow everyone in the supply chain to make money, or risk losing share to more profitable markets in Asia & the US. Constellation & Gallo have already scaled back their UK operations, while expanding in other parts of the world, demonstrating a worldwide trend. He was speaking as Vinexpo released its latest global data that predicts wine consumption in Asia is set to grow by 25% in the next 5y, in stark contrast to a predicted 0.7% fall in EU wine drinking. Asia is set to benefit the most with its market growing to nearly 1.3BN/litres between 2009-13, a rate five times faster than the rest of the world. US wine consumption is also expected to increase by 7.6% over the same period. Beynat said the future for the UK wine sector was still positive, but it was harder to predict where wine would be sold in the future, and on what terms.
