Maestro

PRODUCT CHOICE
CORK STOPPERS
Portugal is the largest producer of cork in the world – accounting for 54% of the world’s cork production . Furthermore, from all cork products produced in Portugal, 90% are exported to foreign countries which represent 2% of total Portuguese annual exports . From the total Portuguese cork products’ production, cork stoppers represent 40% .
Besides, from the manycork products that could be chosen from, cork stoppers seemed to be a wise choice to export since the world wine consumption has grown 4.8% between 2005 and 2011 and 66% of all cork products are used by the wine industry . Allied to that, cork stoppers are used in 80% of the wine bottles produced every year and represent 60% of the wine stoppers today . Though, synthetic stoppers have gained somerelevance in the market, premium wine producers prefer natural cork stoppers to plastic or other alternative stoppers. That is because natural cork stoppers allow oxygen to interact with wine for proper aging and, as such, are perfect for bold red wines purchased with the intent to age.
Natural cork is also one of the most environmentally responsible stoppers in the market, especially whencompared to synthetic alternatives. As examples, plastic capsules are nine times and aluminium screwcaps are twenty two times more damaging to the environment than natural cork stoppers . Knowing we are at an environmentally conscious moment in business it is important to take attention to the type of impact the products being marketed have on the planet.
Hence, for all the reasons aforementioned,exporting cork stoppers from Portugal seems to be a good option. Portugal is a reference market when it comes to the quality of its cork material, has the largest cork company is the world, Amorim, and offers competitive prices. Portugal also has good ports to the shipping of any materials to any place in the world. Finally, cork stoppers are made of scraps of other cork products and most countries(except from Western countries) have their cork production oriented to not generate any waste. Bearing that in mind, Asian countries may be a good destination for cork stoppers, as we will see further on.

COUNTRY OF DESTINATION
The country of destination chosen was China. The reasons underlying this choice are mainly based on the lack of cork stoppers’ production by Chinese manufacturers andthe growing wine production in the country (further explanation may be found in the next subsection of this paper, Market study – The Chinese case).
MARKET STUDY – THE CHINESE CASE
The growth in the wine market
Two years ago China ranked tenth in the wine consumption nation’s list . Today, China has become the world's fifth-largest consumer of wine, ahead of Britain, according to anInternational Wine and Spirit Research study, forecasting a 54% growth from 2011 to 2015 – the equivalent of a billion more bottles . That shows that China is one of the fastest-growing wine markets in the world.
A researcher for the International Wine and Spirit Research said that "with a great foundation of more than 1 billion people as we have in China and (the industry) growing at 20 or 30% a year, thereis a huge potential for more growth."
Though the Chinese wine market has lived a rapid growth period consumer taste remains fairly immature. It is true that consumer appreciation and knowledge of wine have improved in recent years. However, purchases continue to be driven primarily by brand-conveyed prestige and status.
Having that in mind, it is important for local producers to convey animage of prestige and quality in order to be able to compete with the foreign French wines, for instance. To do so, packaging plays a great role . At the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Outlook Conference, Rabobank revealed that “Chinese consumers were described as particularly sensitive to packaging that conveyed prestige and heritage and this preference always includes a cork”. Thus, Chinese...