by Meininger's Wine Business International

Chinese wine consumption is predicted to increase by 70% by 2011, with China being the eighth biggest consumer of wine in the world by 2012, surpassing Russia. According to the China Wines Information Site, the Chinese wine industry developed at a rapid clip through 2006, with production up 14.1% to 495.1 thousand kilolitres in volume over the previous year. Sales were also up by slightly more than 25%, to total 12.952b yuan ($1.8b/€1.18b). In the first three months of 2007, profits were up 33% over the same period the year before, with the China Wines Information Site (wines-info.com) predicting that output and consumption of Chinese wine will remain high.