In 2024, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 48.79 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%, marking the first time it fell below the GDP growth rate of 5%. Against the backdrop of slowing consumption growth, the FMCG industry has gradually entered a new phase dominated by 'stock competition.' The era of high-speed growth driven by market dividends has passed, and the industry is now shifting towards a new normal centered on efficiency improvement, brand optimization, and structural adjustment. As of now, New Distribution has compiled revenue and net profit data from 131 FMCG companies' annual reports, ranked by revenue.
Food & Beverage
Master Kong In 2024, Master Kong maintained its position as the top revenue earner in the domestic food and beverage industry, with net profit achieving its highest growth rate since 2018. Over the past year, Master Kong implemented a series of price increases for instant noodles and 1L beverages. Although this had a short-term impact on sales, data shows it indeed boosted profits. In 2024, Master Kong's instant noodle business achieved a net profit of 2.045 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%; the beverage business achieved a net profit of 2.506 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.1%. Notably, last year Master Kong's number of distributors decreased from 76,875 to 67,215, seemingly reflecting its strategic adjustment in channel optimization and resource integration.
Nongfu Spring For Nongfu Spring, 2024 was a challenging year. Affected by public opinion, the packaged drinking water business achieved revenue of 15.952 billion yuan, showing a downward trend. The ready-to-drink tea business, centered on Oriental Leaf, took the lead, achieving revenue of 16.745 billion yuan, accounting for 39% of total revenue, becoming the company's largest revenue source. Despite the decline in the packaged water business, it still maintains the top market share in China's packaged drinking water market, seemingly confirming the unshakable quality of Nongfu Spring's water sources and product quality. Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan stated that the company added a new water source in Huangshan in 2024 and simultaneously advanced the construction of six other water source projects, continuously strengthening its water source advantages. This series of actions also confirms that Nongfu Spring's core competitiveness of 'good water sources lead to good quality' remains solid.
Uni-President In 2024, Uni-President achieved revenue of 30.332 billion yuan, marking its first entry into the 30 billion threshold since surpassing 20 billion in 2013. By category, in 2024, Uni-President's instant noodle business achieved annual revenue of 9.849 billion yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of 2.6%; the beverage business achieved revenue of 19.241 billion yuan, accounting for 63.4% of total revenue, continuing to serve as the engine of performance growth. In 2024, Uni-President launched a new sugar-free tea, 'Chunfu Green Tea,' which performed well, with sales nearing 200 million yuan in the first three months. This is not Uni-President's first foray into the sugar-free tea sector; it had launched 'Tea Li Wang' sugar-free green tea 11 years ago, but it was eventually discontinued due to market immaturity. Now the sugar-free tea market has changed significantly. Besides established players like Oriental Leaf and Suntory, emerging brands such as Rang Cha and Guozi Shule have also joined the fray, making the future competitive landscape full of variables.
China Foods In 2024, China Foods achieved double growth in revenue and profit. In terms of products, the soda category continued to lead the market, with revenue increasing by 3% year-on-year; facing increasingly fierce competition in the juice market, the company focused on increasing the proportion of ready-to-drink packaged products; energy drinks performed particularly well, with brands like Monster achieving high growth of 38%. In channel operations, the company used digital means to comprehensively improve marketing efficiency: on one hand, increasing the deployment of smart freezers to optimize terminal layout; on the other hand, through 'multi-code integration' to achieve B2C and D2C data fusion, significantly improving marketing precision. This drove rapid growth in D2C business, increasing the proportion of direct customer revenue to 57%.
Dongpeng Beverage In 2024, Dongpeng Beverage achieved revenue of 15.839 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40.63%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 3.327 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.09%, marking seven consecutive years of significant net profit growth. 'Tired and sleepy? Drink Dongpeng Te Guan!' Dongpeng Te Guan has now become a strong billion-level single product in China's soft drink market. Nielsen IQ data shows that in 2024, Dongpeng Te Guan's sales volume share in China's energy drink market increased from 43.0% in 2023 to 47.9%, ranking first in sales volume for four consecutive years. In the past two years, Dongpeng Beverage has also been continuously developing a second growth curve. The electrolyte drink 'Dongpeng Bu Shui La' exploded onto the market upon launch, with annual sales surging 280.37% year-on-year in 2024.
Three Squirrels In 2024, Three Squirrels resolutely implemented the overall strategy of 'high-end cost-effectiveness' and achieved the overall goal of 'returning to 10 billion' as scheduled. Over the past year, Three Squirrels made comprehensive arrangements, from supply chain and channel expansion to diversified brand layout, driving sales growth across all channels and further enhancing product competitiveness. Sub-brand Xiaolu Lianlan, with its new concept, achieved sales of nearly 1 billion yuan in 2024 and achieved good profitability.
Summary: Among the 46 food and beverage companies surveyed by New Distribution, 27 achieved positive revenue growth, and 30 saw net profit growth. Andeli, Three Squirrels, and Dongpeng Beverage ranked top three in revenue growth, while Qinqin Food, Ligao Food, and Pinwei Food ranked top three in net profit growth. Facing industry development difficulties, various brands are accelerating their adaptation to market changes, gradually building new growth curves and core competitiveness through product innovation, structural optimization, and brand renewal. In the beverage track, Nongfu Spring's tea beverage business, as a second growth curve, maintained high-speed growth and became the core driver of revenue and profit growth; Master Kong and Uni-President used their beverage businesses to break through when instant noodle businesses were under pressure, stabilizing their market positions; Dongpeng Beverage, with the support of its big single product Dongpeng Te Guan, successfully developed Dongpeng Bu Shui La as a new growth point, leading to a significant increase in net profit. In the snack track, Qinqin Food achieved a turnaround and substantial profit growth by expanding into export and OEM manufacturing; Yanjin Shop achieved explosive growth through new channels such as bulk snacks and e-commerce, with revenue and net profit growing by over 20%. Liangpin Shop, despite price cuts last year, saw sales below expectations and recorded its first loss since listing; Lai Yifen, due to strategic adjustments in some sales channels and optimization of business models, did not achieve ideal performance during the transition period.
Dairy Products
Yili In 2024, Yili Co., Ltd. achieved revenue of 115.780 billion yuan, maintaining its position as the number one dairy company in Asia. During the reporting period, the company's overall retail market share in liquid milk remained the industry's first. By continuously optimizing the portfolio strategy of sub-brands such as Jindian, Zhennong, and Ambrosial, it formed a relatively balanced brand portfolio. The company's milk powder and dairy products business achieved operating revenue of 29.675 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.53%. The cold drinks industry scale declined due to weather and the high base last year, but revenue still firmly ranked first in the market.
Mengniu In 2024, due to the imbalance between supply and demand in the dairy industry and consumer demand falling short of expectations, all five business segments of Mengniu saw revenue declines. Facing performance pressure, Mengniu on one hand expanded new categories, created new scenarios, accelerated ToB channel and professional dairy expansion, promoted channel diversification, and slowed the decline. On the other hand, it increased cost reduction and efficiency enhancement efforts. According to statistics, Mengniu reduced its workforce by over 5,000 people in 2024. Through multiple measures, Mengniu is gradually optimizing its business structure, activating new growth momentum, and accumulating strength for subsequent stable development.
Bright Dairy Bright Dairy, once hailed as 'China's first dairy stock,' has seen its performance decline continuously over the past two years. Its New Zealand subsidiary, Synlait, saw its annual net loss expand to 450 million yuan, dragging down overall performance. Its long-term focus on the East China region and the cold-chain transportation radius of pasteurized fresh milk seem to have affected its national expansion. Competitors' accelerated layout has further squeezed Bright Dairy's market share. However, to break through the困境, Bright Dairy needs to continuously make breakthroughs in product innovation and channel layout.
Feihe Against the backdrop of overall market contraction, Feihe achieved double growth in revenue and net profit in 2024. In March 2024, Feihe announced a comprehensive price increase for several infant formula products, including the Xingfeifan series, which may be the main reason for revenue growth. However, the declining birth rate remains an unavoidable objective reality. In response to the national call, in April this year, Feihe took the lead in launching a nationwide childbirth subsidy plan, with an estimated investment of 1.2 billion yuan. Relying solely on natural market growth is no longer sustainable; companies must begin exploring new development paths comprehensively.
Summary: Since 2024, the domestic dairy industry has experienced a severe 'cold snap.' Raw milk prices have continued to decline, and terminal demand has not truly recovered. With sluggish consumption and oversupply in the dairy market, many dairy companies are mired in difficulties. Among the 20 dairy companies surveyed by New Distribution, 14 saw revenue declines, 15 saw net profit declines, and most saw both decline. From a sub-category perspective, traditional dairy giants centered on liquid milk business have all been impacted. Well-known brands such as Yili, Mengniu, Bright Dairy, New Hope Dairy, and Sanyuan Foods all experienced varying degrees of revenue decline, challenging traditional growth models. Facing the overall weakness in the liquid milk market, Yili has turned its attention to the adult nutrition market and begun focusing on the milk powder business. By the end of 2024, Yili's milk powder and dairy products business revenue was second only to liquid milk, providing a useful reference for industry transformation. In the infant formula sector, there were signs of a brief recovery in 2024. Companies such as Feihe, Ausnutria, and Beingmate achieved counter-trend growth by raising product prices and focusing on high-end products.
Rice, Flour, Oil & Condiments
Yihai Kerry In 2024, the main reason for Yihai Kerry's revenue decline was that the impact of product price declines outweighed the revenue contribution from sales volume growth. Consumer demand has weakened, and consumption of staple foods such as rice and flour has shown a clear downward trend, forcing companies to seek new growth poles. To this end, Yihai Kerry is accelerating its breakthrough into high-margin tracks, expanding into new products such as eggs, condiments, and yeast to restructure its profit model and counter downside risks.
COFCO Sugar In 2024, international and domestic sugar prices showed volatile trends. Although COFCO Sugar's overall performance declined, the company maintained strong market competitiveness in its two core industries: sugar and tomato. In the past two years, the company seized favorable opportunities to extend downstream into tomato products, building the only complete industry chain in China's tomato processing industry from seed research to brand sales. By optimizing product categories, improving channel layout, empowering offline with online, connecting with consumers, and creating application scenarios, the company promoted rapid development of its brand business.
Fufeng Group Fufeng Group's overall gross margin declined in 2024. Among its segments, the food additives segment accounted for over 50% of revenue. Although it achieved 6.4% revenue growth to 14.37 billion yuan, gross margin plummeted from 16% to 10.8% due to the dual squeeze of rising costs and falling prices, directly dragging down overall gross margin. Facing difficulties, Fufeng Group relied on its integrated industry chain advantages to continue deepening cost control. At the same time, it deepened its global layout strategy by selecting sites in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and other regions to circumvent trade barriers and enhance its market competitiveness and influence.
Haitian Flavoring In 2024, Haitian Flavoring reversed its decline and returned to a growth track. During the reporting period, the company's soy sauce, seasoning paste, oyster sauce, and other categories achieved revenue of 13.758 billion yuan, 2.669 billion yuan, 4.615 billion yuan, and 4.086 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 8.87%, 9.97%, 8.56%, and 16.75%. In December 2024, Haitian Flavoring announced plans to issue H shares and list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Whether this strategic move can help the company achieve breakthroughs will continue to attract industry attention.
Summary: In 2024, the rice, flour, oil & condiments industry showed deep structural differentiation, with traditional growth logic facing reconstruction. Among leading companies, Yihai Kerry's revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan, and six companies achieved revenue over 10 billion yuan. Among them, basic condiment brands Haitian Flavoring and Hengshun Vinegar performed well, maintaining steady growth through channel and brand advantages. However, not all companies can be as composed as Haitian Flavoring. Companies such as Yihai Kerry and Xiwang Food were hit by high raw material costs and weak consumer demand, falling into revenue losses; Kemei Food and Daodaoquan achieved counter-trend profit doubling through supply chain optimization and product structure upgrades, highlighting the importance of refined operations. Companies focusing on 'zero-additive' products, such as Qianhe Flavoring and Jiajia Food, saw varying degrees of decline in revenue and net profit as market dividends gradually faded; Xuetao Salt and Suyan Jingshen saw revenue declines due to year-on-year price declines in some products. Market changes have undoubtedly sounded an alarm for the industry: a single product feature is insufficient to build a long-term development moat; continuous innovation and diversified layout are key to responding to industry changes.
Beer
Budweiser APAC In 2024, Budweiser APAC saw significant declines in revenue and net profit. The financial report showed that the decline in sales volume was due to weak consumer willingness to spend, as well as reduced foot traffic and consumption in the on-trade channel. It is not difficult to see that the weakness in the Chinese market was key to the performance decline. In 2024, Budweiser APAC's sales volume in China fell by 11.8%, and its market share in China also decreased by 1.49%, impacting its overall performance.
China Resources Beer In 2024, China Resources Beer achieved steady growth through its premiumization strategy and cost reduction and efficiency enhancement. The financial report showed that sales volume of premium and above products increased by over 9% year-on-year. Among them, Heineken achieved nearly 20% growth despite a high base last year, while Lao Xue and Hong Jue both doubled in sales volume, and the premium product 'Li' saw a 35% year-on-year increase in sales volume.
Tsingtao Brewery In 2024, Tsingtao Brewery fully leveraged its brand and quality advantages to actively expand the market. The company's online product sales volume increased by 21% year-on-year, maintaining growth for 12 consecutive years. At the same time, it accelerated the layout of fresh direct delivery business to meet consumers' personalized, diversified, and scenario-based needs. During the reporting period, the company continued to promote the development of the Tsingtao main brand's '1+1+1+2+N' product portfolio, strengthening main large single products and accelerating the creation of high-end fresh and ultra-premium products. During the reporting period, the Tsingtao main brand achieved total product sales volume of 4.34 million kiloliters, of which mid-to-high-end and above products achieved sales volume of 3.154 million kiloliters.
Yanjing Beer In 2024, Yanjing Beer achieved strong growth in revenue and net profit, reaching record highs. The significant increase in net profit is inseparable from the contribution of the large single product Yanjing U8, whose sales volume reached 696,000 kiloliters in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 31.40%. It achieved dual breakthroughs in national layout and sales volume, forming economies of scale.
Summary: According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to December 2024, China's above-scale enterprises produced a cumulative beer output of 35.213 million kiloliters, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%. Beneath the surface of total volume contraction, the beer industry is undergoing profound transformation and change. Although premiumization remains the main theme, leading companies such as Budweiser APAC and Chongqing Brewery generally face challenges of slowing premium growth. Many companies attribute their performance declines to 'reduced on-trade consumption, mainly in dining scenarios.' To address this situation, many beer companies are shifting their focus to new areas such as e-sports, night markets, and camping tents, and are strengthening consumer experience and building consumption scenarios through sponsorships of variety shows, music events, and offline activities. Whether the transformation from 'channel-driven' to 'scenario-driven' can become the key breakthrough for the beer industry's second growth remains to be proven in practice.
Personal Care & Daily Chemicals
Yunnan Baiyao Amid a complex competitive environment, Yunnan Baiyao still delivered a performance with record-high growth, firmly ranking first in revenue in the personal care and daily chemicals industry. In detail, Yunnan Baiyao's health products business group achieved revenue of 6.526 billion yuan during the reporting period, a year-on-year increase of 1.6%; according to Nielsen data, in the oral care field, Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste firmly ranked first in market share across all channels in China in 2024; in the anti-hair loss and hair care field, its Yangyuanqing hair care products achieved sales revenue of 422 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%. By breaking through with differentiated technical advantages and continuously increasing market penetration, it maintained high-speed growth.
C&S Paper In 2024, C&S Paper achieved revenue of 8.151 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.84%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 77.18 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 76.8%, hitting the lowest level in nearly three years. C&S Paper stated that during the reporting period, the company proactively adjusted some low-efficiency businesses and adopted a prudent sales strategy, leading to a decline in operating revenue. At the same time, affected by intensified market competition in the industry, overall gross margin declined year-on-year, further squeezing profit margins.
Shanghai Jahwa In 2024, Shanghai Jahwa faced its first loss since its listing in 2002. The main reasons were the impact of low overseas birth rates, intensified competition in the maternal and infant category, and distributor inventory reductions. Its UK baby brand Tommee Tippee performed below expectations, and the company also recorded a goodwill impairment of approximately 613 million yuan. However, from another perspective, this move can be seen as proactive and early risk removal, creating favorable conditions for business focus and operational efficiency improvement in 2025.
Baiya Co., Ltd. In 2024, Baiya Co., Ltd. achieved rapid growth in revenue and net profit. Regarding the reasons for rapid performance growth, Baiya Co., Ltd. stated that it was due to deepening its core advantageous regions in channels, accelerating the construction of e-commerce and emerging channels, and steadily advancing national market expansion.
Summary: Personal care and daily chemicals, as basic consumer goods, occupy an important position in the market. Yunnan Baiyao, C&S Paper, and Shanghai Jahwa ranked top three in revenue, while Liangmianzhen, Yiyi Shares, and Yanjiang Shares ranked top three in net profit growth. Baiya Co., Ltd. led the track with a revenue growth rate of over 50%, opening up incremental space in 2024 through sub-category innovation and channel deepening. Dengkang Oral expanded online channels and continued to promote product premiumization, driving accelerated performance growth; Liangmianzhen's net profit surged by 255.59%, but the decline in non-recurring net profit exposed the continued weakening of its main business profitability. Some established companies fell into growth difficulties. Brands such as Shanghai Jahwa, C&S Paper, Mingchen Health, and Jieya Shares experienced double declines in revenue and net profit. Facing fierce market competition and changing consumer demands, they are adjusting their business structures to try to reverse the decline. Overall, the personal care and daily chemicals industry is characterized by the rapid rise of new brands and the transformation of traditional brands. Future competition will focus more on product innovation and channel efficiency, and companies with differentiated advantages are expected to continue leading.
Prepared Dishes
Shuanghui Food As of last year, Shuanghui Food's revenue has declined for four consecutive years since 2021. The company stated that the decline in profit was mainly due to the decline in profits from tax-exempt businesses such as fresh products and aquaculture. In the current environment of persistently weak demand in the meat products market, Shuanghui Development has fallen into a growth stagnation dilemma. How to actively explore new market areas and tap new business growth points has become an important issue for the company's development.
Bright Meat Bright Meat is a century-old national enterprise that brings together a number of well-known domestic and foreign brands such as Shanghai Maling, Guanshengyuan, and White Rabbit. In 2024, pork market prices fluctuated significantly, leading to a decline in the meat business growth. Amid market changes, the company focused on its main business, improved the strategic layout of the industry chain, and enhanced quality and efficiency. At the same time, it promoted integrated brand communication, strengthened brand innovation and cultural empowerment through new product launches, brand promotion, and cross-border marketing, stimulating new brand momentum.
Anjoy Foods In recent years, Anjoy Foods has achieved steady sales growth thanks to its rich product matrix and marketing strategies. It has also actively expanded cooperation with new retail platforms, carrying out a series of new product promotion and activation measures in new retail channels such as Hema Fresh, Dingdong Maicai, JD Super, and Pupu, maximizing benefits by improving channel combinations.
Longda Food In 2024, Longda Food's net profit increased by 101.41%, turning losses into profits. This was mainly due to the recovery of hog and pork market prices this year, leading to a significant reduction in losses in the company's traditional segments. During the reporting period, against the backdrop of weakening demand, the company continued to focus on the food main business, with an overall operating policy of cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, strengthened internal control, and profit orientation, continuously promoting the strategy centered on food. In 2024, the overall gross margin of the company's food segment was 11.23%, an increase of 1.11 percentage points year-on-year.
Summary: Among the 14 prepared dish companies surveyed by New Distribution, only Anjoy Foods and Babi Food achieved double growth in revenue and profit. Companies such as Huifa Food, Qianwei Central Kitchen, and Haixin Food saw varying degrees of decline in revenue and net profit. Consumer attitudes towards prepared dishes have always been mixed. On one hand, the convenience and speed of prepared dishes precisely meet the fast-paced lifestyle needs of young people; on the other hand, food safety issues remain a thorn in consumers' hearts, affecting the market acceptance and sales performance of prepared dishes to some extent. In 2024, dining consumption became more rational overall, and consumers' pursuit of cost-effectiveness intensified. To cater to this pursuit, many catering companies chose to lower prices to attract customers, while gradually pressing down on supply chains to seek profits, putting significant pressure on companies with catering as their core business, leading to a severe overall decline in the prepared dish industry.
International Brands
Nestlé In 2024, Nestlé Greater China achieved a real internal growth (RIG) of 4.3%, a remarkable performance. Among them, the pet care business was the highlight with double-digit growth, with Purina's premium brands Pro Plan and Fancy Feast continuing to expand through e-commerce and new product strategies; the infant nutrition business saw strong demand for NAN offsetting the decline in Wyeth. In addition, Nestlé's coffee business also achieved mid-single-digit growth, mainly driven by distribution channel expansion and new product innovation. The confectionery business maintained mid-single-digit growth in Greater China, with sales volume growth of brands such as Hsu Fu Chi and Crispy Shark driving sales increases.
PepsiCo In 2024, PepsiCo's Asia Pacific region achieved 3.0% growth for the full year, with net operating profit growing by 8.0%. By deepening market coverage for finer penetration and exploring consumption scenarios such as outdoor activities, it improved market penetration. For some declining regions, cost control measures were implemented to improve profit margins. On the marketing front, PepsiCo captured the emotional needs of young consumers. In December last year, it launched a co-branded edition of Pepsi Zero Sugar with 'Black Myth: Wukong,' instantly igniting the consumption enthusiasm of Generation Z and gaining considerable traffic and support.
Unilever Facing years of poor performance, Unilever has had to review its brand portfolio, accelerate strategic adjustments, and achieve optimal resource allocation. In March last year, Unilever's CEO formulated a new cost-cutting strategy for the company, including divesting the ice cream division and laying off thousands of employees. At the end of 2024, after reassessment, Unilever abandoned the sale of the ice cream business and instead opted for a spin-off, proposing independent operation or separate listing, with plans to complete by the end of 2025.
Summary: Global economic instability, like a storm, has plunged most consumer brands into growth difficulties, and international giants are no exception. From the data, PepsiCo, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, and Danone all achieved single-digit revenue growth, with significantly slowed growth rates. To improve performance, giants have also restructured their business models, with mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and spin-offs becoming strategic 'standard practices.' In July, Nestlé sold its infant food business in France (excluding formula) to FNB Private Equity, and in December sold New Zealand honey brand Egmont Honey to Huatai International Private Equity Fund. Unilever is advancing the spin-off of its ice cream business while preparing to sell nearly century-old brands Unox and Zwan; Danone also sold its organic dairy business Horizon Organic and French biscuit business Michel & Augustin in January and February respectively; Mondelez, despite being rejected in its acquisition of Hershey in December, demonstrated its ambition for large-scale investment and M&A. This global reallocation of resources is both a survival rule in response to consumption divergence and an inevitable choice for building core barriers in the era of stock competition.
Final Thoughts From the overall financial report data, in 2024, 68 FMCG companies saw revenue declines and 65 saw net profit declines. Macro consumption weakness, rising cost pressures, and drastic changes in the channel environment have become key factors constraining growth. Despite the overall sluggish consumption, some companies are actively seeking change in difficulties, demonstrating strong adaptability and innovative spirit. Snack and beverage brands such as Master Kong, Uni-President, and Dongpeng Beverage are actively developing second growth curves through product innovation; dairy companies such as Yili, Mengniu, and Feihe are accelerating transformation and upgrading, responding to market challenges through product structure adjustment and operational efficiency improvement; condiment company Haitian Flavoring is deepening channel reform and optimizing supply chain systems to improve market penetration; international brands are continuously optimizing business structures through strategic M&A and restructuring. These transformation and upgrading measures have further promoted corporate performance growth. As the market shifts, the industry is accelerating the elimination of outdated players. In the future, how to activate new growth poles in the stock market will be the key to breaking through for FMCG companies.