On August 26, Nongfu Spring released its 2025 interim results announcement. The financial report shows that the company achieved revenue of RMB 25.622 billion in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%; net profit was RMB 7.622 billion, up 22.1% year-on-year.

Against the backdrop of a pressured overall market environment, such results are undoubtedly outstanding.

By business segment, packaged water revenue was RMB 9.44 billion, up 10.7% year-on-year, accounting for 36.9% of total revenue; the tea beverage business achieved revenue of RMB 10.089 billion, a sharp year-on-year increase of 19.7%, accounting for 39.4% of total revenue, breaking the 10 billion mark for the first time. Functional beverages, juice drinks, and other segments also achieved double-digit growth. It can be said that this is one of Nongfu Spring's rare half-year reports with "all segments rising together." For peers, this financial report is both pressure and a textbook example. It not only reveals Nongfu Spring's strong recovery in its main business but also demonstrates how the company builds barriers through long-termism and product innovation amid industry cycle fluctuations and intensifying competition.

Packaged Water Recovery: The Victory of Long-termism

In the past two years, the packaged water business was once disturbed by market fluctuations. However, from the first half of this year's data, Nongfu Spring's packaged water has returned to double-digit growth. The key behind this lies in its water source strategy. Since its inception, Nongfu Spring has adhered to "building factories at water sources and bottling at water sources," treating water sources as core corporate assets. In the first half of this year, the company added three new water sources: Badagong Mountain in Hunan, Longmen Mountain in Sichuan, and Nyenchen Tanglha Mountain in Tibet, bringing the total number of water sources nationwide to 15. This means two things: 1. Quality assurance is irreplicable: The scarcity of water sources determines that competitors cannot easily break through Nongfu's moat through "price wars." 2. Stability to traverse cycles: When consumer demand fluctuates, what truly forms sustained premium is still the resource endowment accumulated over the long term. Moreover, Nongfu Spring is also extending the value of water sources. For example, the "Natural Water Source, Transparent Factory" activity continues to deepen, combining water sources with ecological education to strengthen consumer awareness; innovative products such as "Zodiac Water" and "Pure Transparent Edible Ice" bring the concept of "good water" into more consumption scenarios. For the industry, Nongfu Spring has proven with facts: In a seemingly mature packaged water market, long-termism can still open up new growth curves.

Tea Beverage Segment Breaks 10 Billion: The Demonstration Effect of Oriental Leaf

In the first half of 2025, Nongfu Spring's tea beverage business revenue reached RMB 10.089 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%, becoming the company's largest revenue-contributing segment. The core driver is Oriental Leaf.

  • New product strategy: Limited editions such as Tangerine Peel White Tea and Longjing New Tea continue to attract new customers.
  • Marketing actions: This year, for the first time, the "Open Lid to Win Red Packet" activity was launched, with a maximum prize of 666 yuan, igniting a terminal purchase boom.
  • Channel and origin layout: Since the end of 2024, the company has built 5 new tea primary processing plants in Yunnan, Lincang, and other places, further extending the supply chain foundation upstream. It is worth noting that despite the overall slowdown in the growth of the sugar-free tea market, Oriental Leaf still grew against the trend. This shows that the market bottleneck is not the demand ceiling, but the lack of long-term accumulation by most brands. In other words, under the logic of "water has sources, tea has gardens," Nongfu Spring has established a deeper industrial chain moat. For other tea beverage brands, this is undoubtedly pressure: relying on low-price promotions and trend-following hits is unsustainable; only by deeply cultivating quality and raw materials can one stand firm in the sugar-free track.

Diversified Businesses Rising Together: The Strong Player Logic in Adversity

Besides packaged water and tea beverages, Nongfu Spring's other categories also have highlights:

Functional beverages: Revenue of RMB 2.898 billion, up 13.6% year-on-year;

Juice drinks: Revenue of RMB 2.564 billion, up 21.3% year-on-year;

Small categories such as coffee and sparkling water: Up 14.8% year-on-year. Comparing with industry data, it can be found that in the first half of this year, the overall beverage market grew weakly, with some categories even stagnating or declining. But Nongfu Spring outperformed the market in almost all segments, achieving a "counter-trend rise" effect. Behind this is a strong "product + channel" dual-wheel drive strategy: On the product side, Nongfu Spring continuously launches new products centered on "health" and "naturalness" to capture mindshare.

On the channel side, leveraging a strong distributor network and terminal execution capability, it achieves efficient distribution and rapid sell-through. This also explains why in the "Global Soft Drinks Brand Value 50" report released by Brand Finance, Nongfu Spring ranked third globally in the non-alcoholic beverage list, second only to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This is not only a report card for the company but also a milestone for China's soft drink industry.

Moreover, from Nongfu Spring's half-year report, we can also roughly glimpse three major trends in the beverage track:

1. Return to Long-term Value, Not Short-term Hits

The rebound of packaged water tells us that long-term investment can form a barrier that "traverses cycles." 2. The Health Trend Remains the Main Theme The growth of sugar-free tea proves that consumers' demand for "healthy beverages" has not diminished; the key lies in quality rather than following trends. 3. A Multi-category Matrix is Key to Risk Resistance When a single category fluctuates, enterprises must rely on diversified businesses to maintain overall growth. Nongfu Spring, precisely with its diversified matrix, demonstrates resilience amid fluctuations. Final Thoughts Nongfu Spring's half-year report is a beautiful financial answer sheet. But what the industry should learn from it is not just the revenue figures, but the logic behind them. Adherence to productism: not blindly chasing short-term hotspots, but deeply cultivating water sources, tea gardens, and supply chains. Control over channels: stabilizing the distribution network to ensure execution in new product launches and terminal sell-through. Shaping long-term brand value: continuously refreshing consumer awareness through water source stories, zodiac water, cross-border products, and more. For the entire FMCG beverage industry, Nongfu Spring provides a clear paradigm: In today's fiercely competitive environment, only long-termism and deep cultivation of the industrial chain are the fundamentals for traversing cycles and achieving sustained growth. In this sense, Nongfu Spring is not just a beverage company; it is more like a "benchmark" for China's beverage industry. And in the future, whether it can move toward the 50 billion revenue mark as the market expects will also become a focus of observation for the entire industry.