grapes

" Following apple, citrus, pear and banana, grape production now ranks fifth in fruit production in the People’s Republic of China. The area under vineyards was estimated to be 178,000 hectares in 1998. There were two rapid-developing periods: the1980s and the late years of 1990s. The cultivation area of grapes increased steadily from 31,600 to 146,000 hectares from 1980 to 1988, with an average increase of about 14,300 hectares per year. Then the grape extents decreased from 1989 to about 24,000 hectares in the following 3 years. Under the influence of the ""red wine rush"" in the Asian countries, grape growing became hot again in China from the early 1990s. The cultivation area of grapes continued to increase to 20,200 hectares by 1998 (about 15 percent more when compared with that of 1997) from 1992. The annual grape production has increased steadily for the last 20 years. It attained 2,358200 tons in 1998, 18.7 times more than in 1979. Most of this production was for table grapes and only about 10 percent for wine making and another 10 percent for raisins. The main areas of expansion are located in the north. The five leading provinces that contributed more than two thirds of the total grape production in the country in 1998 were Xingjiang, Hebei, Shangdong, Liaoning and Henan."