Experts say the total is expected to surpass 130,000 tons by the end of the year, 7 per cent of its total apple production and a half of the country's total apple exports.

Sources with the local trade and economic committee say Yantai apples have mainly sold to Southeast Asia, Europe and North America markets.

Yantai apples have been well known in the country since the 1980s. Experts say China's entry into the World Trade Organization will bring new opportunities to the apple industry in coming years.

After years of development Yantai apples are capable of competing with international rivals in production scale, variety, quality and deep processing.

To date, the city has more than 140,000 hectares planted in the popular red Fuji apple, with an annual production capacity of 1.7 million tons. A number of modern and well-developed apple production bases have been established.

In recent years, the city has introduced more than 200 new apple varieties. The old fruit industry has been entirely renovated, making Yantai a major challenge on the international apple market.

With better apple-growing techniques and more advanced processing facilities and technologies introduced from abroad, a group of large apple processing enterprises has been established in Yantai. They include the Qixia Oriental Juice Co Ltd and Yantai North Andre Juice Co Ltd.

(China Daily December 29, 2001)