Chinese military logistics group to fuel smaller-scale wine imports through e-commerce channels

One of the biggest military logistics companies in China is set to cooperate with a B2B wine e-commerce platform, showing evidence of the government’s efforts to support smaller-scale wine import businesses.

With a background in ordnance storage and shipment, the China Ordins Group is working with business-to-business wine sales platform Wajiu.com to launch bonded warehouses in China’s free trade zones. The move is a part of the new ‘Vin 2 China’ project, which is expected to support small-to-middle-scale wine importers, announced the China Association for Importers & Exporters of Wine & Spirits last month.

In recent years, online stores have become crucial sales channels for imported wines in China, as the country’s major e-commerce firms, such as JD.com, continue to sign direct distribution deals with international wine producers.

Under the ‘Vin 2 China’ project, instead of targeting the final consumers, Wajiu.com focus on building bridges between producers and small businesses, whereas the China Ordins Group handles the ‘shipment, custom clearance, storage and product display’, said officials.

The project is expected to ‘offer efficient and flexible trade and financial services to small businesses’, according to the association.

The move also reflects the series of preferential policies launched by the Chinese government to encourage the development of free trade zones.

One of the benefits includes allowing buyers to pay for their selected wines in RMB so as to avoid international currency transfer, said the China Association for Importers & Exporters of Wine & Spirits.

Meanwhile, instead of sourcing wines from the origin of production, by purchasing wines from bonded warehouses (“inside the territory while outside the customs”), importers can expect to reduce the delivery time from three months to one week (excluding sanitary certificate), said Angela Zhou, Sales Manager of JF Hillebrand China during 2015 Vinexpo.

As a part of the initial push of the ‘Vin 2 China’ project, LI Meng, president of Wajiu.com was reported to have signed co-operational deals with the VSPT Wine Group during Chinese Premier LI Keqiang’s official visit to Chile in May 2015.

In 2016, the total trade value of China’s import and export via cross-border e-commerce channels is expected to hit 6500billion RMB (682 billion GBP) as estimated by China’s Ministry of Commerce.