06-21-2021, 04:12 PM
- China’s central government has approved a 15-year wine development plan for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region with a scale that could match the production levels of Bordeaux, France wine capital.
- Last year, during the coronavirus pandemic, Ningxia’s wine exports rose 46.4%, according to the local customs agency.
- Still, Chinese producers have “got a long way to go before they become a big exporter,” said Tony Battaglene, chief executive of Australian Grape and Wine.
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BEIJING — Fresh off a surge in wine exports and a visit from President Xi Jinping last year, China wants to turn its primary wine-producing region of Ningxia into one that rivals France’s Bordeaux.
By 2035, Ningxia’s Helan Mountains area aims to produce 600 million bottles worth 20 billion yuan ($3.12 billion), according to a plan the central government approved in late May. The region along the Yellow River is about a two hours’ flight west from Beijing and lies in a latitude similar to that of France’s famed wine country.
“If this goal can be achieved, Helan Mountains’ eastern foothills will become an internationally important and influential production area, with a scale matching that of Bordeaux,” Sui Pengfei, director of international cooperation at China’s agriculture ministry told reporters last week in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation.
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