The Xiamen International Wine Exchange. [Photo/Official WeChat account of Xiamen Free Trade Zone]
The Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone registered 6.15 billion yuan ($858.16 million) of the total sales revenue of enterprises operating at the Xiamen International Wine Exchange in the first half of this year, up 12.5 percent year-on-year.
The Xiamen International Wine Exchange was established in the Xiamen Free Trade Zone in May 2022, aiming to coordinate the development of the imported wine and Chinese baijiu industries.
To date, the exchange has 236 member enterprises and nearly 40 top international brands, such as Hennessy, Macallan, and Martell.
Xiamen is China's most prominent beer import port, and its total volume of imported wine also leads the country.
A number of trading platforms have been set up to boost the city's imported alcoholic drinks industry.
For example, the Xiamen FTZ international digital alcoholic drinks platform was launched in September 2021. It incorporates modern digital technologies such as cloud computing and big data to consolidate industrial data and provide services like supply-chain management, virtual exhibitions, online sales, and matchmaking channels.
By June 30, 216 companies had set up online operations on the platform and generated 356 million yuan of sales in the first half of the year.
Customs officers at the Xiamen Free Trade Zone inspect the imported beer. [Photo/Official WeChat account of Xiamen Free Trade Zone]