Major Hong Kong wine retailer slashes prices of some high-end products by up to nearly 60% One of Hong Kong’s largest wine and spirit retailers has reduced prices for some of its most high-end products by as much as 59.2 per cent, following the government’s decision to effectively cut liquor tax in the premium market. Local chain Watson’s Wine said on Wednesday it was rolling out price cuts on “a large range of carefully curated premium spirits, making world-class spirits more accessible to Hong Kong connoisseurs.” “Watson’s Wine … announces its support for the government’s initiative to reduce duty rates on high-end liquor products, in alignment with the economic growth agenda published in the 2024 policy address,” a spokeswoman said. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled the move in his policy address in October, slashing the liquor duty on spirits with over 30 per cent alcohol content and an import price above HK$200 (US$25.70). The tax rate was previously 100 per cent on liquor with more than 30 per cent alcohol content, regardless of the price. Under the new policy, the first HK$200 will remain subject to a 100 per cent duty, while the portion exceeding the import price threshold will be taxed at a much lower rate of 10 per cent. Watson’s Wine said it was lowering prices on over 100 premium spirits, with reductions of up to nearly 60 per cent on certain items. “Watson’s Wine welcomes the government’s latest policy on spirits and firmly believes that this duty reduction will greatly benefit our customers and the industry at large,” managing director Jeremy Stockman said. “Through price reductions and investments in new spirits retail concept, together with the industry, Watson’s Wine will help establish Hong Kong as a hub for high-end liquor.” The most expensive products saw some of the biggest reductions. A bottle of Cognac Tesseron’s Experience 01, for example, went down from HK$36,800 to HK$15,000 – a 59.2 per cent decrease. A bottle of Signature XO Passion by the same brand was also reduced by 41.3 per cent to HK$8,800, from HK$15,000. Other premium products such as cognacs by Martell, and whiskies from Ardbeg, Balvenie and Macallan, also saw reductions ranging from 6.7 per cent to over 30 per cent. October’s policy announcement meant Hong Kong, which had an alcohol tax rate that was among the highest in the world, could see its government revenue reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars. But authorities were optimistic the move would help boost the high-end spirits market as well as the tourism and restaurant sectors, much like in 2007 and 2008 when they halved the city’s 80 per cent wine duty before fully abolishing it. That sent the total value of wine imports surging by 375 per cent from 2007 to 2023, while the volume increased by 33 per cent. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3288388/major-hong-kong-wine-retailer-slashes-prices-some-high-end-products-nearly-60 (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post