China overtakes UK to become fifth largest wine-consuming nation (China)

In the past year, China has overtaken the UK to join the list of the world’s top five wine-consuming nations, according to new figures released by Vinexpo. Results from the annual study by The International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR) show that between 2009 and 2010 consumption of still, light and sparkling wines grew by 33.4% in China (and Hong Kong included), leading to a total of 156.19m 9-litre bottles being consumed in 2011, knocking the UK into sixth position in the world-wine consumption market, reports Decanter.