An international expo to boost exchanges and cooperation within wine industries opened Friday in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a leading wine-producing area in the country.

Hosted by the regional government, the Fourth China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo gathered more than 300 exhibitors and 440 guests from eight countries and regions, including France, Italy, Spain and Chile.

The three-day event, held both online and offline, includes a wine carnival, competitions and other activities.

The expo features domestic and foreign wine products and their derivatives, innovative merchandise, digital showrooms, caravan camping equipment and vineyard machinery.

Ningxia's unique terroir, with its ample sunshine and cool, dry climate, is ideal for producing high-quality wines.

As China's largest wine-producing region, Ningxia now boasts 602,000 mu (about 40,133 hectares) of grape plantations, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the country's total, and produces 140 million bottles of wine every year, representing nearly half of the country's total output.