The Yantai apple is a popular brand of Chinese fruits and a highlight of local agriculture products.

China has become the largest apple producing and consuming country worldwide. Apples were introduced into Yantai in 1871. The Yantai apple has not only dominated the domestic market but has also taken the lead in China's apple industry, after continuous technological innovation, variety improvement, quality upgrading and brand building.

The unique maritime climate and superior geographical location contribute to the high quality of Yantai apples.

Bai Guoqiang, director of Yantai municipal bureau of agriculture, said that since the 1980s, Yantai has made great strides in apple selective breeding and orchard management. It introduced Red Fuji, an internationally popular variety, which contributed to the competitive advantages of the city, as well as China.

Yantai has set up three State-level professional research institutions, namely the Apple Breeding Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Fruits and Nursery Stock Quality Inspection Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Yantai Comprehensive Test Station of the National Apple Industry Technology System. They provide strong support for breeding new apple varieties and improving apple quality.

Since the mid-1990s, Yantai has shared its apple planting techniques with other apple producing areas in the country, including apple bagging cultivation management, mason bee pollination, eco-friendly pest control, closed orchard reconstruction, soil organic matter concentration, and efficient utilization of fertilizers and water, all of which helped upgrade China's apple industry.

Ma Degong, head of the Yantai Fruit Tree Station, who has witnessed decades of changes of the Yantai apple, said that Yantai should be awarded for its contribution to the improvement of the Chinese apple industry.

However, with the increasingly competitive apple industry and trade worldwide, Yantai’s apple industry also faced many challenges, such as the aging of fruit trees, the deterioration of orchard soils and the rise of pest infestations.

Yantai has begun to use modern technologies to build new demonstration orchards of dwarf apple trees. The new technologies can shorten the maturation period of apples and produce about 4,000 kilograms per mu (15 mu = 1 hectare).

Zhang Jiangting, Party secretary of the Yantai municipal committee, stressed the importance of quality and security in future development of Yantai’s apple industry.

Yantai has also hired Atanas Blagov, a famous Bulgarian fruit tree expert. Blagov spoke highly of the technology system in Yantai’s apple industry and promised to make efforts for the development of the city’s fruit industry. He said that Yantai’s apple industry has the potential to be a world-renowned brand.

Currently, 50 percent of rural households are engaging in apple planting or marketing. The apple industry has offered more than 2 million job opportunities and has become a local pillar industry.

Annual apple output reaches 4.95 million tons, and annual fresh fruit export volume tops 240,000 tons, accounting for a quarter of the country’s total. Yantai has become the biggest Red Fuji producing, processing and export base in China.

Yantai plans to transform its apple into a world-famous brand within eight years by focusing on variety selection, seedlings, cultivation modes and orchard construction.