Wine is an important export commodity for New Zealand and the industry claims that it will reach the $1 billion mark by 2010.  Already exports are over $700 million, from 75 million litres of high quality wines. New Zealand winemakers have already confirmed participation in the Hong Kong International Wine Fair, which makes its debut in August 2008.

Wine: Marker of Social Change is a project investigating the role of wine as a significant marker of societal and market change in societies which are not traditionally wine-drinking. The project is conducted by Tim Beal and Michel Rod of the School of Marketing and International Business at Victoria University Wellington and is funded by one of Asia:NZ’s research grants, the Big Issues Grant 2007.

Research will focus on New Zealand wine exports to Singapore and Japan, with fieldwork to be conducted in the two countries in late 2008. There is also ongoing fieldwork in New Zealand – visit the project’s website if you wish to find out how to participate. The researchers will work to highlight statistics on New Zealand’s wine trade and to identify major trends and markets in Asia.
 

_{Hong Kong and Singapore are two of the Asian markets with great potential for New Zealand wine exporters.}