China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Ministry of Agriculture have jointly drawn up a five-year plan for the Chinese wine industry.

Part of the People’s Republic of China’s 12^th five-year plan, it aims to speed up structure adjustment, ensure quality and safety, and sustain healthy development in the wine industry.

The plan will look to usher in changes in six areas: grape planting management, seeking suitable wine-producing areas in northwest China, classification management, acceleration of mergers and acquisitions, speeding up the development of listed companies, and investment in science and technology.

The ultimate goal is to increase wine production in China to 2.2m kiloliters by 2015; more than double that of 2010.

China is the world’s fifth largest wine consumer after the US, Italy, France and Germany, according to the 2012 China Wine Market Report released by International Wine and Spirit Research.

Last year, wine consumption in China increased by 33.4% to 156m 9-litre cases.

The wine market has managed to maintain steady growth during the first quarter of 2012, with revenues of 9.875 billion Yuan, up 9.92% on the same period last year. Profits were also up 6.35% on 2011’s first quarter.

The increased growth of the Chinese wine market has attracted the interest of producers from Europe and the Americas, with more than 3,000 foreign wine brands currently available in the country.

Now competing with imported wines, China’s three biggest wine companies: Great Wall, Changyu and Dynasty, have been forced to step up their efforts, from improving sales channels, to pooling domestic and foreign resources.