The New Zealand wine industry is to begin targeting wine drinkers in the Chinese mainland in order to encourage the rising demand to match supplies, an industry expert said Monday.

New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW), the industry association, in May completed their biggest-ever road show, in Beijing and Shanghai, which saw a huge growth in attendance from last year's events.

The Beijing event saw a 91-percent increase in trade attendance numbers, with 465 attendees, up from 243 last year, while Shanghai saw a 25-percent rise to 402 attendees, up from 319, NZW market manager Asia Monty James told Xinhua.

The vast majority of attendees were distributors and wholesalers, but feedback from New Zealand wineries participating in the events showed that those who already had established distribution in China wanted to see more food and beverage trade representatives at the events, while overall the wineries wanted more events targeting consumers.

In response, NZW had announced it would hold its first consumer event in Beijing next year as part of the road show and was " discussing opportunities to attract a more targeted audience" in Shangai.

James said about 60 percent of wines in China were sold on premises such as restaurants and bars, "and that proportion would be higher with imported wines."

"We're probably now at the stage where the supply channels are full," James said in a phone interview.

"What we need to do as an industry body is to focus on the follow through and the consumers."

However, the market was too big and diverse to indentify and target pockets of consumers directly, he said.

NZW was compiling a database of about 500 "key influencers" in China with the aim of unrolling consumer education programs with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), the New Zealand government trade agency, over the next 12 months.

However, it was still too early to give details of the programs, he said.

Ten, or a third, of the wineries participating in the road show had informed NZW that they were looking for distribution in China as a result of the road, down from about half the participants last year, but the smaller proportion was an indication of the maturity of the Chinese market, he said.

In May, NZW and NZTE announced they were planning a long-term strategy to build the presence of New Zealand wine in China over the next three to five years.

NZW took 30 wineries to Beijing and 29 to Shanghai for New Zealand-only exhibitions in May, and 20 New Zealand wineries also took 120 wines to feature at the Vinexpo Asia Pacific, one of the region's biggest wine and spirits exhibitions, from May 29 to 31.

According to NZW, New Zealand wine exports to Chinese mainland rose by 53 percent in the year to the end of March and exports to Hong Kong by 16 percent.

New Zealand winemakers believe the market still has huge potential, with figures showing France consumed 55 liters of grape wine per person in 2005 and New Zealand 20 liters, while China consumed 1 liter per person and Japan, Asia's biggest wine importer, 2 liters.

New Zealand wines usually sell at the upper end of the market in Asia, averaging just over 11 U.S. dollars per bottle.