Date£º
2014-04-25 09:58 Source£º
winesearcher Author:
AFP with Wine-Searcher staff Translator:
National governments are taking wine fraud seriously.
A shopper browses the wine aisle at a Carrefour hypermarket in Beijing
France and China have this week signed a joint "declaration of intent" to counter the sale of fake wine and spirits in China.
"This bilateral cooperation shows the goodwill on both sides to protect producers against counterfeits," said the French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Fleur Pellerin in a statement.
It will also "guarantee the quality of products for Chinese consumers," she added.
The authenticity of wine and spirits is a major concern for Chinese wine lovers, according to a survey published by market researchers Wine Intelligence in early 2013. It found that the fear of buying a fake bottle of wine was the biggest barrier to purchasing wine in China, with 44 percent of respondents saying that it discouraged them from buying wine.
It is difficult to estimate how widespread the problem is. China's CTV has reported that 50 per cent of wine sold in China could be fake while counterfeit specialist Nick Bartman last year claimed that as many as 70 percent of the bottles sold in China are fraudulent.
In 2013, French wine and spirits exports to China were worth 836 million euros ($1.15 billion).