19
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Since 2011,
the fine wine
investing market
has changed
considerably. There
is no denying that
these have been
difficult times,
but the massive
changes have
not all been bad,
with globalisation
opening new
routes to market
and rising interest
in wine from
emerging markets,
putting pressure
on already limited
supplies of stock.
41
Investing in tangible stores of wealth is part of Asia’s saving culture and according to
The Hurun Wealth Report 2013, 64% of Chinese millionaires invest in luxury goods
41
and of the million millionaires in China, 70% are alcohol drinkers, including 50%
who are connoisseurs of red wine, with fine wine collecting increasing in popularity
amongst the rich, even in the years since the Bordeaux price bubble burst.
The rise of new markets – such as Hong
Kong and China – has driven growth
in the fine wine market in recent
years. Of the US$352 million of wine
sold at auction in 2014, for example,
some US$104 million, or 30%, was
accounted for by Hong Kong alone.
40
This has been partly driven by the
slashing of import duty on luxury
goods to China in 2008 which made
fine wine more attractive to growing
numbers of well off Chinese who
wanted to display their affluence
through luxury Western wines, but is
also fuelled by the increasing size of
the Chinese economy; this has led to
the creation of more wealthy Chinese,
which has been at the heart of the rise
in interest with China not only set to
be the largest economy in the world
by 2024, but expected to boast nearly
15,700 UHNWIs and 338 billionaires.
9
The spending power is considerable;
in 2014, Asia overtook North America
as the region with the second largest
UHNWI growth. Some 1,419 people
moved past the $30m+ mark
in Asia in that year, after an increase
of fewer than 1,000 in 2013. Europe
held onto the top spot with the most
new entrants into the ultra-wealthy
bracket over 2014. The ultra-wealthy
in Asia now also hold more in total
wealth, with net assets of $5.9tn, than
those in North America, with $5.5tn.
Additionally, Knight Frank’s 2015
Luxury Spending Report finds that the
Chinese are already the single biggest
consumers of luxury goods around
CHINA AND ASIA
GLOBAL UHNWI POPULATIONS AND TOTAL WEALTH
(2014)
Europe
60,565
North
America
44,922
Asia
42,272
Africa
1,932
Russia
2,068
Australia
3,920
Middle
East
7,269
Latin
America
9,902
Predicted 10-yr growth
Global population
172,850
20,8tn 34%
2014:
25%
5.5tn
25%
5.4tn
25%
0.5tn
23%
0.4tn
48%
5.9tn
59%
0.2tn
40%
0.2tn
50%
1.2tn
Total wealth
