The Chinese drank more than 30 million tons of beer last year and consumption per capita reached 24.2 liters, according to the country's alcoholic drinks industry association.

China had been the world's largest producer and consumer of beer for four consecutive years, said Wang Yancai, secretary of the association, during the China International Wine Industry Expo 2006 in Beijing Friday.

As living standards of ordinary Chinese continued to rise, beer consumption had soared.

China had more than two million people working in breweries, with the production value exceeding 400 billion yuan (US$50.3 billion) in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2006)