"HK set to top league for wine auctions" from South China Morning Post

"Hong Kong is expected to overtake New York as the biggest wine auction centre by the end of this year, said Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan, secretary for commerce and economic development. Speaking on a radio programme, Laud said more than 500 wine shops had been set up in Hong Kong in the past two years and 45,000 people were now working in the industry. Since the waiving of wine import tax in 2008, Hong Kong had replaced London as he world's second largest wine auction centre, she said. New York is the global leader. A record of 110,000 people visited the four-day wine and Dine Festival last week. Government figures for the first nine months of the year showed that 34 per cent of wine exports from Hong Kong went across the border."