Almost a third of China's total wine imports in 2006 will be French wines, the French minister said here on Wednesday.

China has overtaken Japan to become France's largest wine export market in Asia, said the French minister, who was on a visit to China aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector.

The construction of a wine production base, the Sino-French winery jointly funded by the Chinese and French governments, was recently completed in Hebei Province in north China.

The winery will produce high-end products, with each bottle costing around 1,000 yuan (125 U.S. dollars).

Wine production and consumption in China have both grown at about 10 percent per year over the past decade.

Despite rising wine consumption in China, the nation's per capita wine consumption is only 0.3 liters, or 6 percent of the world average.

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