The Yantai apple is a golden brand of Chinese fruits and a highlight of agriculture products of Yantai in Shandong province.

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

The unique maritime climate and the superior geographical location contribute to the high quality of Yantai apples, which feature red color and are crisp and sweet.

Bai Guoqiang, director of the Yantai municipal bureau of agriculture, said that since the 1980s, Yantai has made great improvement in apple selective breeding and orchard management, along with the introduction of Red Fuji, an internationally popular variety at that time, which contributed to the competitive advantages and the industrial status for the apple industry of Yantai and 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 excellent varieties and upgrading apple varieties. Yantai has taken the lead in fruit and seedling breeding.

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 through grass planting and covering in orchards, and efficient utilization of fertilizers and water, which helped promote the upgrading and development of 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 in the world, 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, with an output of 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 during the 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 of 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 apple brand.

Currently, 50 percent of rural households work in apple planting or marketing. The apple industry has offered more than 2 million job opportunities and has become the pillar industry of Yantai’s modern agriculture.

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 largest Red Fuji producing, processing and export base in China.

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