Chinese Wine Industry Keeps Double-Digit Annual Growth

Beijing - China's wine producing industry has been growing by double-digit figures over the past few years, said Wang Zuming, secretary of the Wine Division of China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association at a recent seminar.

The output of wine increased by 18.10 percent, 37.05 percent and 23.83 percent in the year 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively, he said.

The industry features high concentration, with the top ten producing provinces or regions taking up 96.26 percent of the national output. Shandong, Jilin and Hebei provinces produce 70.20 percent of the wine consumed in China, he pointed out.

Wine making has become a hotspot of investment over the years. Experts predict continuous growth in the sector and heated competition among domestic and foreign brewers.

China has over 600 winemaking companies. By end-2008, output of 167 state-owned companies and private companies each with annual sales of over five million yuan (US$731,595) amounted to 698.300 million liters, up 23.4 percent on year. The industrial output value totalled 19.168 billion yuan, up 27.02 percent and the sales value came to 18.322 billion yuan, up 23.75 per cent.