LANZHOU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China imported a total of 2.86 billion yuan (about 404.4 million U.S. dollars) of wine in 2018, authorities said at an ongoing wine festival in northwest China's Gansu Province.
Statistics from the General Administration of Customs show that a total of 2.86 billion yuan of wine was imported, accounting for 49.5 percent of the total liquor and alcoholic beverage imported last year.
The import total of wine tops all liquor and alcoholic beverages imported last year, said Chen Ping, with the department of market operation of China's Ministry of Commerce at an organic wine festival that opened Saturday in the city of Wuwei.
The total wine consumption reached 1.8 million kiloliters in China last year, making China the fifth largest wine consumption country in the world, Chen said.
"In recent years, with the deepening of structural reform and the changes in people's consumption structure, wine has entered people's daily lives aside from only at business occasions," Chen said.
