Tequila of premium (100% blue agave) tequila into China was lifted following a state visit to Mexico by President Xi Jinping. The entry of premium tequila into the country is expected to increase tequila exports by 20 percent within a decade (exports totaled 170 million liters in 2013). Ramon Gonzalez, director of the "Consejo Regulador del Tequila", estimates that each of the top 16 producers of tequila had invested up to $3 million to enter the Chinese market. On 30 August 2013, the first 70,380 bottles of premium tequila from ten brands arrived in Shanghai. The arrival happened during an event
Tequila held at the House of Roosevelt, a well-known club located on The Bund– an area with a long tradition of importing alcoholic beverages in China. The latest version of the tequila standard (NOM-006-SCFI-2012) also updated the standard to specify that the silver class of tequila cannot contain additives, to allow the aging time for the ultra aged class to be displayed on the label, to prohibit the commercialization of bulk tequila through vending machines and required registering the agave during the calendar year of its plantation and required annual updates. Planting, tending, and harvesting the agave plant remains a manual