Alibaba taps American wine to boost Sino-US trade
After meeting Donald Trump earlier this week, Jack Ma of Alibaba has flagged US wine as a ‘key product’ for the Chinese market, the company has revealed.
Alibaba said it will assist one million small-to medium-sized companies in the US, especially from the Midwest, to sell clothes, wine and fruits – three key categories of products highlighted by Alibaba – to Chinese and Asian consumers.
America’s Midwest is not particularly known for winemaking, due to challenging climatic conditions. California on the west coast, however, produces 90% of the country’s wines mostly in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Los Carneros and Central Valley.
US wine exports in 2015 reached all time high, with $1.6 billion worth of wines exported, up by 7.6% compared with 2014. Its market share in China is still meagre, accounting for less than 3%, behind France, Australia, Chile, Spain and Italy, based on figures from China Association for Imports and Export of Wine & Spirits.
Alibaba’s ambitious trade plan is said to be able to create one million jobs in the States within the next five years.
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Correction: A previous version of the article failed to mention Central Valley of California, which is estimated to produce about 75% of all wines in California.
