A Brief History of China's Beverage Development In the 1980s, for ordinary people, "beverages" meant soda from the local shop. Many places in China had a beverage factory, and producing soda was an essential item; at that time, 90% of beverage products were soda. In 1982, the state included beverages in the "national planned management products." In 1983, the "Eight Major Soda Factories": Beijing's Beibingyang, Tianjin's Shanhaiguan, Shanghai's Zhengguanghe, Guangzhou's Asia, Shenyang's Bawangsi, Chongqing's Tianfu Cola, Shandong's Laoshan Cola, and Henan's Shaolin Cola, accounted for 42% of national total production. In 1984, a "Chinese magic water" was born—Jianlibao emerged as China's earliest electrolyte sports drink. It was expensive; a regular 355ml can sold for 3 yuan. Before 1990, the beverage industry had planned economy characteristics, directly managed by the Chinese government. After 1990, China's beverage industry began market-oriented development, competition became increasingly fierce, and most of the famous "Eight Major Soda Factories" shrank or disappeared. In 1992, new beverage brands stood out; "Wahaha" began shifting from health products to beverages, from purified water to "Future Cola," transforming into a new market star. In 1993 and 1994, the China Light Industry Federation signed cooperation agreements with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, allowing the "two colas" to set up bottling plants, but they had to retain 30% of domestic brand beverages. Starting in 1993, the Xuri Group, founded with 30 million yuan investment and based on supply and marketing cooperatives, became a beverage giant with annual sales of 3 billion yuan after just a few years of development. In 1999, the first "Top Ten China Beverage Industry" evaluation was held; Wahaha, Robust, Jianlibao, Huiyuan, Lulu, and others were listed; subsequently, Taiwan's Master Kong and Uni-President successfully entered the mainland beverage industry. After 2000, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo continued rapid development in China; century-old international brands like Nestlé and Red Bull expanded their investment in China; Uni-President and Master Kong represented Taiwanese beverage strength; Zong Qinghou's Wahaha, growing tenaciously in the cracks between foreign and Taiwanese capital, became an outstanding representative of the Chinese national beverage industry. Major Industrial Waves in China's Beverage Industry In the mainstream beverage market, a new hotspot emerges every few years, and giants rush in. During the development of China's beverage industry, several major industrial waves gradually formed: carbonated drinks, bottled water, tea drinks, fruit juices, functional drinks, dairy drinks, herbal tea, and plant protein drinks. 1. Carbonated Drinks In the 1980s, China saw a carbonated drink craze. Jianlibao was the most influential brand of this period, standing out uniquely and hailed as the "Oriental Magic Water." In 1978, Coca-Cola entered the Chinese market by giving away bottling production lines, then set up bottling plants in various forms across China, weaving a network of production and sales. PepsiCo followed a market strategy of following Coca-Cola's development in China. 2. Bottled Drinking Water In 1996, targeting secondary pollution of tap water, Wahaha launched Wahaha Purified Water with high standards and large investment, sparking a revolution in the drinking water sector. Bottled drinking water became the mainstream beverage in the mid-to-late 1990s, producing a large number of brands such as Robust and Nongfu Spring. 3. Tea Drinks The pioneer of tea drinks was Xurisheng. In 1993, with supply and marketing cooperatives as its foundation and 30 million yuan investment, it chose an entry point that consumers were familiar with but the market lacked, creating a new "ice tea" concept. Within a few years, it became a beverage giant with sales of 3 billion yuan. Its huge success attracted many powerful competitors to follow suit. The real tea drink boom began when Master Kong started terminal displays in 1999; by 2001, tea drinks gradually formed a climax in China, with many companies vigorously following. 4. Fruit Juice Drinks From the mid-1990s, the strong domestic juice brand was "Huiyuan," with 100% concentrated reconstituted juice in Tetra Pak, mainly for family and hotel consumption. In 2001, Uni-President's "Fresh Orange Duo" pioneered PET-packaged 25% orange juice drinks, targeting mass immediate consumption, and became an instant success. Many beverage companies were inspired and quickly followed (e.g., Master Kong's Fresh Daily C in 2002, Wahaha juice, Coca-Cola's Qoo). In 2003, Nongfu's Nongfu Orchard further upgraded the juice consumption craze, ultimately creating a colorful juice beverage market. 5. Functional Drinks After the SARS epidemic in 2003, health-oriented drinks began to win consumer favor, leading domestic beverage giants to invest in functional drinks since 2004. Robust's "Mizone," Wahaha's "Activate," Nongfu's "Scream," Uni-President's "Physical," Master Kong's "Jinpao," Huiyuan's "He+She," etc., especially the success of "Mizone" with its appeal of "replenishing body water and essential vitamins to keep the body energetic," drove a new wave of functional drinks. 6. Dairy Beverages In the late 1990s, with the strengthening of health concepts and the booming milk market, various dairy and plant-based drinks opened their markets, such as AD Calcium Milk, Shuangwaiwai, and later popular Nutrition Express, Fruit Milk You, as well as Xiangpiaopiao and Youlemei milk tea nutritional drinks. 7. Herbal Tea Since 2005, with the overwhelming advertising of "Afraid of getting heaty? Drink Wanglaoji," herbal tea became a new fashion in mass consumption, and later JDB jointly promoted the rapid development of herbal tea functional drinks. The success of herbal tea marked the revival of traditional Chinese health medicine, introducing plant ingredients with medicinal and food homology into beverages, becoming a new trend in functional drink development. 8. Plant Protein Drinks Plant protein drinks appeared early, but only gradually gained a place in the beverage market from the 1980s-1990s. The most representative brands were Lulu Apricot Kernel and Coconut Palm Coconut Juice, forming "North Lulu, South Coconut Palm." However, due to regional and taste differences between north and south, the category never scaled up until the launch of Six Walnuts in 2005. With the functional appeal of "Use your brain often, drink Six Walnuts" and overwhelming advertising, sales rapidly increased within a few years, exceeding 10 billion yuan, and drove many small and medium enterprises to follow with walnut milk plant protein drinks, ultimately achieving the "golden age" of plant protein drinks. After experiencing multiple industrial waves of carbonated drinks, bottled water, tea drinks, juices, herbal tea, dairy drinks, and plant protein drinks, China's soft drink industry has also entered a "new normal" stage. In 2015, China's soft drink output was 176.61 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%. In 2016, the total cumulative output of the beverage industry was 183.452 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.90%. From 2006 to 2015, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of China's soft drink output was 18.3%; from 2006 to 2010, the CAGR was 26.6%; from 2011 to 2015, the CAGR was 10.7%. Currently, China's beverage industry has entered a "new normal" stage of slower growth. Under the influence of this macroeconomic environment, the annual growth rate of China's soft drink industry has fallen below 10%, thus requiring differentiated competition. If you want to create an innovative beverage, you've come to the right place. The FMCG and Marketing public account (Jiujiang Jingbo Culture Communication Co., Ltd.) is a professional one-stop solution institution for beverages from ingredients, production, OEM, to marketing. Only professionals can do professional things! Source: FMCG and Marketing (kimpop003) -END-