(Wantchinatimes) - China's imports of wine are expected to increase sharply this year after a free trade agreement was signed with Australia on June 17, under which tariffs on Australian wine exports to China will be reduced to zero within five years, the Guangzhou Daily reports.

For the first two months of this year, imports of wine saw a 23.7% growth year-on-year to 79.31 million liters, according to the latest statistics.

The significant growth in sales was mainly driven by strong demand and the market has experienced obvious changes that has seen sharp declines in inventories of imported wine, with many second- and third-tier importers entering the market, which has intensified competition, industry experts said.

Due to China's economic slowdown, high-end wine brands have suffered setbacks in sales over the past two years, with some distributors plagued by financial issues due to mounting inventories. As a result, prices of many high-end wines have dropped to below 100 yuan (US$16) per bottle.

However, there have been signs of a rebound of high-end wine sales in the market recently, according to the report. Two new types of high-end wine launched by Castel Group of France in China are priced at 300-600 yuan (US$50-$100) and 100-300 yuan (US$16-$50), respectively.

In addition, the prices of imported products included in the 2015 fine wine list compiled by the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), an association of Bordeaux wine professionals, have been adjusted upward from the original 100-400 yuan (US$16-$65) range to the 100-500 yuan (US$16-$80) range, showing that Chinese consumers are more interested in high-end wines.