Posted by
axptguy38
16 yrs ago
When the tax was abolished the first thing I said was "I bet prices will remain unchanged and the distributors and shops will pocket the difference". Call me a cynic.
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Its economics.
If there were a substantial price cut in Hong Kong, do you think volumes would have gone up?
Its fairly inelastic demand, and that is why prices have remained constant.
Now the revenue has become producer surplus rather than tax revenue.
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I disagree. Prices did come down and still are lower than before. Also don't forget that tax was only a very small percentage of the price. Last year when the dollar was strong we saw some really punchy deals particularly on Australian wines, but also on European wines. The offers may not be as good as before, but definitely still cheaper than before the tax abolishment.
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The price of wine in restaurants and bars is largely determined by factors other than the cost of the raw material. Bars and restaurants have huge on-costs which they need to cover, and their owners also need some sort of return on their investment.
People can always drink at home.
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Ed
16 yrs ago
I hadnt bought wine in Hong Kong for quite some time and was shocked at how much lower the prices were in the super markets... I think they are about half off now no?
Restaurants are a different matter - as pointed out the overheads associated with running a restaurant, particularly the rent, make up the bulk of the price in every item sold... even if you strip the cost of wine down 50% you still have those enormous rents to pay so you dont end up with half off a bottle of wine...
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"They are half-off if you buy a bottle of plonk from New Zealand or Chile. As I did last week: drank one glass and used the remainder to deglacee some persistant stains in my toiletbowl."
Agreed. "Decent" wine is no cheaper in my opinion. Not that I've done any scientific studies.
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Yes I have to agree with Yep's comments regarding the selection of wine at the major supermarkets - although at least the people at Welcome know how to spell Sauvignon Blanc. It's clear that the buyers at PnS don't hence the fact that they only seem to sell Oaked Chardonnay.
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