Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

China opens up to Sicily

Thirty-one Chinese operators representing seventeen importing companies from Hong Kong to discover Sicily's food and wine. The first of the meetings planned for the trade mission of Hong Kong operators on Sicilian wine and food and wine products, promoted with the partnership between the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Regional Institute of Vine and Wine, got off to a good start. Today, at the Centrale Palace Hotel in Palermo, the first BtoB was held which received the first positive consensus from both sides, buyers and producers.

“There is a lot of interest – commented Chung Yen Tang, head of delegation and president of the Hong Kong Exporters' Association – on the part of Chinese public opinion in everything related to Made in Italy. This is an extraordinary country, and it is in Sicily that we have identified a productive region capable of offering unique food and wine products and capable of speaking of a territory and a lifestyle that are of great appeal for us". The president of the Region, Raffaele Lombardo, met the deputy director of the HKTDC, Margaret Fong, this morning at the Palazzo d'Orleans. “Hong Kong – said President Lombardo – will be able to offer the possibility of being a point of reference for the penetration of our quality agri-food products in China. It starts with wine, but other products are also of interest to this delegation. This visit is an opportunity to introduce Hong Kong operators not only to the products but also to the people and places of Sicily which, in terms of traces of many civilizations, cultural heritage and environment, can be much more interesting for the Chinese than any other region of Europe. This mission is also an opportunity for our producers, so that exports to China grow." A new and concrete opportunity for dialogue and discussion with importers and companies in a strategic and rapidly expanding South-East Asian market. “Hong Kong,” explained Margaret Fong, “has the highest per capita consumption of wine among Asian countries, and also thanks to the abolition of import duties, there has been a real boom. Sicilian products must establish themselves. This is why we brought a delegation here, precisely to create an access bridge between China, and Hong Kong in particular, and Sicily". An opportunity that is part of the internationalization plan decided and coordinated by the IRVV. “Asia is getting closer to Sicily – explains Dario Cartabellotta, general director of IRVV – and Sicilian companies have what it takes to make this great opportunity fruitful in new commercial opportunities. I am sure that Sicilian wineries will be able to best capture the long wave of the growth trend recorded by Mediterranean wines on foreign markets. One of the reasons that pushed the HKTDC to come to Sicily is the awareness of finding wines with a clear identity and territorial connotation: Sicily, in fact, is becoming well perceptible at an international level and the saving of time and money that is expected with this visit of Asian buyers and operators must be transformed into a new and further impetus for the positioning of Sicilian wines on these emerging markets". The importance that the territory and culture have in generating a quality product will be highlighted to Asian operators: the oenological greatness achieved by the Island is based on a strong production tradition, centered on the vineyard and on the great biodiversity of its production contexts capable of guaranteeing high quality wines of all types. BtoB, tastings, visits to companies and the historical, naturalistic and cultural heritage of the territories in which the companies involved fall. This is the packed program prepared by the Institute. Over eighty wineries that ideally represent all the territories and winemaking traditions of the area that form the Sicilian wine continent. Tomorrow the operators will move to Trapani, on the 15th they will be in Menfi, on the 16th in Vittoria and on July 17th on Etna.