Demystifying the Malaysian wine market

Demystifying the Malaysian wine market

Presenter: Justin Ho

What is going on?

• The life of wine in Malaysia
• You know, the usual boring stuff
• Not my kind of chart
• Have u have wonder why Malaysian drink wine?
• Alright, so what is the hype in town now?
• What do you think? (Consumer point of view)
• What do you think? (Professional point of view)
• Ley me make it easy for you
• What do you think they should do?

The life of wine in Malaysia

• Mid-1980s: the beginning of wine consumption, mostly French and Aussie wines
• 2000-2005: significant increase in wine consumption in the early stage
• 2010-2012: significant upward trend in imports and expansion of on-trade and off-trade businesses
• 2010-2018: significant increase in the importance of wine education
• 2016: the beginning of awareness of Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable and Natural wines
• 2015-2020: slow decrease in the purchase of wines in retails and restaurants
• 2021-2022: significant increase from retails in quality wines consumption and OBSN styles
• 2023: wine education hype, heavy increase on BYO, a significant decrease in restaurant consumption

The usual boring stuff

Countries that have Malaysia Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)

• New Zealand
• Chile
• Australia

Top Trading partners with Malaysia in 2021

1. Australia: 38% share, 31M USD
2. France: 31% share, 26M USD
3. Chile: 5.6% share, 4.64M USD
4. Italy: 5.5% share, 4.55M USD
5. USA: 3.4% share, 2.8M USD
6. Singapore: 3.2%, 2.6M USD

Not my kind of chart

Annual intl trade statistics import structure of wine including fortified and grape must (in value)

Reporter: Malaysia

2010: 51M

2011: 79M

2012: 81M

2013: 75M

2014: 78M

2015: 94M

2016: 98M

2017: 96M

2018: 101M

2019: 93M

2020: 67M

2021: 83M

Have u ever wondered why Malaysian drinks wine?

	I drink wine because	I don’t drink wine because
Utilitarian	For the impact of alcohol	Health conscious (alcohol is bad for health)
	For impact of alcohol	Allergic to alcohol
Symbolic	My family, friends and colleagues drink wine	Not part of my drinking culture
	Adopted western lifestyle while studying/working/visiting abroad	Religious prohibition
	To celebrate/Mood enhancement	People criticizing my drinking
	Socialize with friends and business associates
	Gives me prestige/status/more sophisticated
Experiential	Wine goes well with food	Easily hung over that might cause trouble/accident
	I like the taste of wine	Don’t like the taste
	For relaxation and enjoyment	Too expensive
	Too complicated to understand	Easily hung-over that might cause trouble/accident

What is the hype in town?

• Drinking for pleasure or lifestyle?
• Where most of the people are drinking? Buying out or drinking in?
• Is knowledge important? Is it everything?
• The key player and other small potatoes, what’s their agenda?
• Is the government the culprit?
• B2B and B2C, what is the impact?
• Can I import wines for myself?

What do you think? (Consumers’ point of view)

Amateur:

• Nice wine is usually expensive, cheap wine is usually not so good
• I drink what suppliers and retailers suggest
• I just want to take a picture for my social media

Enthusiast:

• Label, packaging, price
• Lacking variation
• Brand oriented market
• Need more boutique wines from other European countries
• I start to learn more when in a wine group
• Suppliers are dishonest with information

Connoisseur:

• Rather purchase from overseas
• Handling of wines is not proper
• Lack of labels variation
• Wines in Malaysia are not so interesting
• Suppliers know less than consumers

What do you think? (Professionals’ point of view)

What kind of wines you would like to see in restaurants?

• Boutique and Sustainable wineries in the market instead generic labels
• Different styles of wines around the world
• Uncommon wines from other parts of Europe
• Hidden gems that are less commercialized

In 3 words describe the wine culture in Malaysia

• Progress, potential, unrevealed
• Plenty to explore
• Diversity, disparity, developing
• Lacking of diversity
• Bored, jammed, overpriced
• Lack of cooperation

Any suppliers in Malaysia you think are providing diverse wines or every wine you need for your operations?

• All say NO
• With 2 professionals say maybe 1 or 2 suppliers are close to …

Let me make it easy for you

• What consumers want: “Teach me, I am willing to learn”
• What professionals want: “Can you bring this wine in?”
• What the market thinks: “Not sure if it works”
• What the market provides: “Let’s be safe”

What do you think they should do?

1. Explore hidden gems
2. Education/information
3. Right product/right target/right trade
4. Be diverse/be innovative/be supportive