China ranked second worldwide in 2015 for vineyard acreage

n April 18, the International Vine & Wine Organisation presented its figures for the state of the global wine industry. For the second consecutive year, China ranked second in terms of area under vine with 830,000 hectares, up 34,000 hectares on the previous year; the figure includes vineyards for wines, table grapes and raisins, both bearing and non-bearing acreage. With a production volume of 11 million hectolitres in 2015, the country is the world’s ninth-largest wine producer but rises to fifth position for wine consumption with 16 million hectolitres consumed in 2015, up 3% on 2014. “The increase shows that the halt in Chinese wine consumption witnessed in 2013 and 2014 was just a temporary setback”, commented Jean-Marie Aurand, managing director of OIV. Nevertheless, China has yet to return to 2012 consumption levels of 17.1 million hectolitres.

[ Source: Vitisphere. Illustration: Pernod Ricard (Helan Mountains) ]