China's take-off powers the boom of the brewing industry in Asia.

Yin, X.S., Wu, S.-F. and Gu, G.-X.

Abstract
Although European style beer was brewed in China as early as 1900, it remained an unimportant minority product until the late 1970s, since when production has increased at an average annual rate of around 25% up to the time of writing (which means that even if the growth rate falls to an annual 10%, Chinese beer production can still be expected to exceed that of the USA by 2001 at the latest). Figures for Chinese beer production from 1980 to 1993, the production of wine, fermented rice beverage and traditional spirits in China in 1980 and 1992 (plus current predictions for 2000) compared with the corresponding figures for beer, Chinese hop production in 1992 compared with the USA, Germany and the Czech Republic, and beer production and consumption figures for some of the major regions of China are presented in the form of bar graphs, together with a table showing the output of the top ten Chinese breweries in 1992. The production of malting barley, hops, and cereals usable as adjuncts is reviewed together with the methods and equipment used in the breweries and possible future developments in the industry.
Keywords : beer brewing industry consumption production raw material statistics