PROWEIN BUSINESS REPORT JAPAN

From the exporters’ perspective Japan is an attractive wine market characterised by a high-quality awareness and a high price level. Seven in ten companies wishing to export to Japan rate both the attractiveness and average prices as high.

With its unique cuisine and great awareness for the quality of (fine) foods as well as its high regard for handcrafted products, Japan is a unique export market for wine. Six in ten companies wanting to export to Japan see very promising business opportunities for their wine styles there.

After the USA, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, Japan is the world’s fifth biggest wine importer. In the wake of the post-pandemic economic recovery wine imports in Japan have risen strongly. During the world economic crisis in 2023 wine imports also dwindled slightly in Japan but not as strongly as in many other countries such as the USA or Canada.

For 2024 industry experts expect exports to Japan to recover slightly. Four in ten exporters assume sales in Japan will increase, five out of ten expect export sales to remain unchanged. Only 12% of the current exporters believe their exports to Japan will decline. Experts feel that the recovery of wine imports is closely related to the required economic recovery in Japan.

Which wine styles stand the biggest chance of being sold in Japan? Exporters expect the highest demand in Japan for white wines, which also pair with Japanese cuisine especially well. Ranking second are red wines, followed by sparkling wines. Exporters also see good business opportunities for high-end sweet wines such as ice wine, port and madeira. There is currently only limited demand for organic wines, rosé wines and no and low-alcohol wines in Japan, according to experts.

In this respect, Japan slightly deviates from the global trend where white wines (63%) and sparkling wines (61%) clearly top the trend list while red wines (28%) rank clearly behind rosé (52%) and no/low wines (42%). (Details to follow in the Special ProWein Business Report “No-Low Wines”). In the experts’ view, Japan therefore continues to be a very good market for red wines, especially also for premium red wines.

The list of top wine types in Chart 3 represents a very robust survey result, which is valid regardless of the origin of the polled exporters. Experts hailed from very different wine-growing nations such as Italy, Spain, France and the New World, followed by the smaller wine-growing countries Germany, Portugal and Austria. Although these countries of origin differ in terms of their focal ranges, the experts completely agreed on the relative ranking of wine types that stand the biggest chance of success in Japan.  

There are only minor differences as to the absolute values. Nearly 80% of exporters from Austria and Germany see white wines ranking top in Japan, while this figure stands at 60% in the other wine-growing countries. According to exporters from France and Italy with their strong Champagne, Prosecco and Crémant brands, demand for the sparkling wine category is also slightly higher than average in Japan at 45%.

The Japanese wine market poses exporters with a variety of challenges for a successful market entry. In the opinion of exporters already operating on this market, building a long-term relationship with a renowned importer and compliance with the very high quality standards are much more important than the properties of the wine to be sold in Japan. The origin, taste, quality and brand recognition levels of a wine are therefore less important than the cooperation with a renowned and reputable importer who is committed to his product. 

“In Japan you need an importer with a good distribution network who focuses on your product.” “The first challenge is to find the right import partner and to be patient to build and strengthen this relationship.” The fierce competition for attracting the attention of the most successful importers and agents in Japan is considered the biggest obstacle to market entry by exporters. Due to these existing well-established distribution networks in the country, the market can only absorb a limited number of new producers and new wines, say the so far already successful exporters.

The companies intending to export to Japan view the quest for such an importer as by far the biggest challenge. Being the first major international fair for trade visitors in Japan, ProWine Tokyo provides an important exhibition platform to get to know potential importers in person on site and to establish personal business relations.