(Yicai Global) Jan. 25 -- Winemakers in Tonghua, one of China's main wild grape wine regions, are facing an uncertain future as factories have been ordered shut due to new Covid-19 cases in Jilin province ahead of the peak season of Chinese New Year.

Local winemakers have already delivered some supplies to dealers for the upcoming Spring Festival so only some bulk-buy orders due right before Feb. 12 may be impacted by the temporary shutdowns, an insider close to China Tontine Wines told Yicai Global.

Tonghua Grape Wine, another northeastern wine firm, didn't answer Yicai Global's calls.

All distillers in Tonghua need to halt production and the government will decide when they can restart, a local wine association told Yicai Global yesterday.

Jilin province added 67 confirmed Covid-19 cases and five asymptomatic ones as of Jan. 24, and most of them were detected in Tonghua, the local health commission said today. The city entered a lockdown on Jan. 18.

Besides the production hiatus, merchants are worried that the demand for spirits will be reduced as many provinces and cities encourage workers to stay put and avoid traveling to their home towns during the holidays, Yicai Global learned.

The pandemic has been bad for wild grape wine sellers. Tontine posted a loss of CNY74.2 million (USD11.5 million) in the first half of 2020 from a year ago as sales dropped by 66 percent. Tonghua Grape Wine recorded a loss of CNY18.5 million in the first three quarters of 2020 from a year earlier with a 53 percent revenue cut.

The two winemakers' shares were heading in different directions today. Shares of China's Tonghua Grape Wine [SHA:600365] dropped 4.5 percent to CNY2.35 (40 US dollar cents) this afternoon. China Tontine Wines's stock price [HKG:00389] surged by 5.1 percent to 8 Hong Kong dollar cents (1 US dollar cent).

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine