Ningxia unveils ambitious plans to expand vineyard area and improve wine quality

Ningxia’s wine industry has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years, but  it has ambitious plans to expand even further, increasing the scale of its vineyards and improving the quality of its wine production by 2025.  

A report by the People’s Government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was recently approved by China’s State Council, and covers hundreds of square kilometres of wine growing regions.   While some of these targets have already been announced, the new report includes goals for 2035 that ramp up amibitions even further.

The aims include reaching 1.5m mu (100,000 hectares) of vineyards with annual production of 600m bottles, on a revenue of CNY200bn (US$14bn). If these ambitions were to be achieved, the volume of wine would equal, if not oustrip, the current output of the whole of China, and the vineyard acreage would put Ningxia on a level pegging with Bordeaux.  

The 15-page report outlines strategies “to build a modern grape and wine industry area with higher product quality, stronger core competitiveness, wider brand influence, deeper industrial integration, greater efforts to open to the outside world, and a better ecological environment… a model for promoting the balance of the environment and regional economic prosperity.”  

This will entail creating trusted brands, boosting wine marketing, leveraging new technology, integrating tourism facilities and undertaking research and development on grapes.

The biggest challenge for the region will be in selling the wine, which is an area that Ningxia has struggled with in the past, despite its wines winning numerous accolades and commendations from top critics.

This, however, is not an issue confined exclusively to Ningxia, but applies to the entire Chinese wine market, which has faced difficiutlies with both imported and domestic wines in the face of a buoyant beer and spirit market.