Spatio-temporal characteristics, main problems and optimization paths of the development of wine import trade in China

Since China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the wine import trade has achieved remarkable development results, largely meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. To deeply explore its development status, using data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database, the International Organization of Vine and Wine, and other sources, the overall scale, international status, market sources, product structure, and average import price of wine import trade in China from 2001 to 2023 were analyzed. It was found that there were still some problems and deficiencies in the development of wine import trade in China. Firstly, the growth momentum of imports had been extremely rapid, which had led to a significant expansion of the trade deficit and had a considerable impact on related domestic industries. Secondly, the expansion of the import source market in terms of quantity was relatively limited, and the regional structure was not entirely reasonable. There was an excessive reliance on certain specific regions. Thirdly, the average import price had been on a continuous upward trend, which had gradually deteriorated the terms of trade, increasing import costs and trade risks. Fourth, the import supervision mechanism was still not sound enough, and the management of the market competition order was also not perfect. There were some phenomena that disrupt fair market competition. The research results suggested that China should actively promote the transformation and upgrading of its domestic wine industry and cultivate new competitive advantages for itself. Expanded the number of import source markets, optimized the regional structure, enhanced the ability to resist external risks, increased international discourse power, and improved trade terms. Improved the import supervision system, perfected the product quality inspection system, and maintained a fair and competitive market order. Encouraged domestic wine enterprises to "go global", deepen international capacity investment and cooperation, enhanced the resilience and security of the industrial chain and supply chain, promoted investment-driven growth in related imports, and achieved sustainable and healthy development of wine import trade in China.