The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly drew up the 12th Five-Year Plan for the wine industry on July 6, to speed up structure adjustment and upgrading, ensure quality and safety, and realize the sustained and healthy development.

The wine industry is set to usher in changes in six areas: scale operation of grape planting, seeking good wine-producing areas in northwest China, ending disorder in the industry with classification management of wine products, acceleration of enterprises’ mergers and acquisitions, speeding up the development of listed companies, and wine equipment manufacturers reaping benefits from investment in science and technology.

The goal of wine industry during the 12th Five-Year Plan period was to increase the production to 2.2 million kiloliters by 2015, which is double than 2010, China Securities Journal reported.

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

Last year saw wine consumption in China increase by 33.4 percent year on year to 156 million 9-liter cases containing 12 bottles per case.

The first quarter is conventionally a dull season for the wine industry. Nonetheless, China's wine market still managed to maintain a steady growth trend, China Wines Information Website said.

Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China and the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association show that in the first quarter of this year, China's wine industry achieved revenue of RMB 9.875 billion Yuan, an increase of 9.92 percent compared with the same period of last year, with profit of RMB 1.441 billion Yuan, an increase of 6.35 percent compared with the same period of last year.

Such a huge potential of the wine market in China has attracted producers from Europe and the Americas. Statistics show there are more than 3,000 overseas wine brands at Chinese market, further diversifying the market, according to the official China Daily.

With ever greater pressure from imported wine, the three biggest wine companies in China, Great Wall, Changyu, and Dynasty, have been accelerating their channel construction and integrating domestic and foreign wineries resources, making vigorous efforts to improve the companies' competitiveness, China Wines Information Website said.