China has become the world's second largest vineyard owner with about 800,000 hectares of vineyards all over the country, Jean-Marie Aurand, the director general of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), has said.
Spain remains in top place with its 1.02 million hectares of vineyards, while France dropped to the third place after China.
The global wine production in 2014 stood at 279 million hectoliters, of which China contributed 11.1 million hectoliters, said Aurand on Monday, adding that China's booming wine regions were the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Ningxia and Sichuan.
The consumption of wine in China dropped in 2014 to 15.8 million hectoliters, but 80 percent of the wine consumed in China is produced locally, according to the OIV.
The OIV is an intergovernmental organization of a scientific and technical nature and is recognized for its work in vines, wine, wine-based beverages, table grapes, raisins and other vine-based products.
