A memorandum on admitting China into the Office International De La Vigne et du Vin (OIV) was signed by OIV and China Vintage Industry Association officials on Wednesday in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province.
The memorandum says OIV welcomes China becoming a member and that the Chinese association will create the conditions for its early OIV entry.
OIV president Georges Dutruc-Rosset said at the signing ceremony China's entry would greatly promote grape growing and the wine-making industry in both China and the world.
Geng Zhaolin, a senior executive of the China Vintage Industry Association, said joining OIV would improve the standard of China's wines and make them more competitive on the world market.
"China's wine market has great potential, yet its wine industry still lags far behind advanced levels in the world in some aspects," Geng said.
Sources said grape and wine production and wine consumption has been growing rapidly in China. Currently 186,667 hectares of land in China are planted with vines, which yield 3.5 million tons of grapes annually. Fifteen percent of the grapes are used in wine-making.
China produced 300,000 tons of wine in 2001, up 19 percent over the previous year. China's per capita wine consumption averages 0.27 liters a year, still much below the world level.
(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2002)
