Changyu Group Co., Ltd., is celebrating its 112th anniversary with an ambitious plan: it hopes to be one of the world's top 20 wineries within five years.

Changyu's chief engineer Li Jiming is confident the Shandong Province-based company will achieve that goal. He says that the strategy was drawn up based on careful analysis of its own development potential as well as the domestic and foreign markets.

"By the end of the last year, total sales were 2 billion yuan (US$241 million)," Li said at the Changyu headquarters on Wednesday. "Sales are expected to reach 4 billion yuan in 2008 if we can maintain our annual growth rate of 15 percent."

The average annual growth rate in the winery industry worldwide is one percent or less. China's wineries have been growing at a rapid 10 percent or better.

In 2002, Changyu signed an agreement on strategic development with Castle Co., a French winemaker, in a move that gave a tremendous boost to the company's technology and sales. In the same year, Changyu built a winery in Thailand. It was the first time for a Chinese winery to invest abroad.

"Exploiting the European market in collaboration with Castle is the most important step for Changyu to enter the global top 20,” Li said. "Castle is one of the biggest enterprises in Europe, with over 100,000 franchised stores. Our company will make full use of these stores to promote our own brand. Moreover, numerous Chinese restaurants in Europe will help Changyu to sell its products overseas."

Li said that the first step of Changyu's internationalization is consolidating its status in the Asian wine market. It hopes to gain a leading position in the region in the near future.

Zhang Shibi, a senior official of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) set up the Changyu Company in 1892 in Yantai, in east China's Shandong Province. He gave his winery the propitious name Changyu, meaning "prosperity."

(China.org.cn by Unisumoon September 23, 2004)