International wine expo wraps up in NW China’s Ningxia

The ninth Ningxia International Wine Expo at Helan Mountains’ Eastern Foot concluded in Yinchuan, capital city of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, on October 23.

With the theme of “In the Wine Capital We Embrace the Purple Dream”, the two-day expo aimed to showcase the development achievements of Ningxia’s wine industry and help China’s wine sector embrace global markets.

A series of activities were held during the expo, including the China-France Wine Forum, World Wine Tourism Forum and Wine Industry Investment and Ordering Conference.

Representatives from countries including China, France, Argentina and Spain participated in the event online and offline and discussed the development of wine industry.

The grape growing industry is an important part of a country’s national economy, said Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister of France, via video link at the expo, who added that China’s wine industry has made great progress.

He stressed that China is speeding up restoring economic and social order and making valuable contributions to the steady recovery of world economy.

China’s vineyard surface area ranked second in the world in 2019, according to a statistical report on world vitiviniculture released by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).

Ningxia’s grape planting area has reached 32,800 hectares, accounting for a quarter of China’s grape plantations.

The city has 211 wineries, generating an annual output of 130 million bottles of wine.

The comprehensive industrial output value for 2019 came in at about 26.1 billion yuan (about $3.9 billion).

The wine produced in the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia has already been exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including Germany, Belgium, France, Singapore and Spain.

In recent years, the wine industry in Asia has achieved sustained and steady growth, and China’s wine industry, in particular, has attracted great attention, noted Regina Vanderlinde, president of the OIV.

She looked forward to strengthening all-round cooperation with China and was very confident that the bilateral cooperation would reach a higher level.

Jean Claude Berrouet, a world-renowned French winemaker, pointed out that China boasts various types of wine and almost all kinds of wine in the world could be found in the country.

Considering the huge demand and consumption growth rate in China’s domestic market, the country will soon become the main consumer market for popular wine, he said, adding that China’s wine industry is left with broad prospects for development.

The eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia have successively introduced over 60 wine grape varieties (lines) and dozens of international winemakers, infusing impetus to the growth of local wine industry.

By integrating all-for-one tourism and wine industry, which are both pillar industries in the area, the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains have formed a unique development model of wine tourism.

During the expo, the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia, Montlouis-sur-Loire wine region in France, Priorat region in Spain and several other wine regions were selected as world’s top 10 most potential wine tourism regions.