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Today's Headlines
Highlight 1: Big Changes! Liu Qiangdong Announces: JD to Cut 50% of Staff, Work 3 Hours a Day! Unmanned Company Coming To improve JD's service and management competitiveness, Liu Qiangdong announced a major initiative at the World Retail Congress in Spain: in the future, JD will halve its workforce, with employees working only 2-3 hours a day, fully realizing an "unmanned company" that uses AI technology to disrupt traditional management and service methods. These three things appear to be technological innovations, but behind them lies JD's HR transformation. After implementing unmanned operations, JD aims to reduce its workforce by 50%, meaning a large wave of frontline employees will face unemployment. Those with average contributions, low value, and high substitutability will undoubtedly be eliminated. At the same time, to better adapt to the changes, JD will certainly recruit talent more proficient in technology, AI, and the future.
Highlight 2: Expanding Baby and Child Consumer Market, Want Want Invests in 'Baby Food Factory' with Annual Output of 7.5 Million Cases Recently, reporters learned that Want Want Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for a "baby food factory" in Shanggao County, Jiangxi. The project expands the existing plant area, covering nearly 60 mu. Main construction includes workshops and warehouses, with key equipment such as FDB (10-ton) advanced machinery. Upon completion, the project will achieve an annual production capacity of 7.5 million cases of infant and toddler supplementary food (biscuits).
Highlight 3: Wuliangye May Launch Ultra-Premium Cellar-Aged Liquor On May 11, 2018, listed companies in Sichuan held an investor collective reception day. At the meeting, regarding ultra-premium cellar-aged liquor series products, Wuliangye revealed that the products are in design and the company will launch them as soon as possible. In terms of pricing, Wuliangye 1618's ex-factory price is about 100 yuan higher than ordinary Wuliangye, while Jiaobei brand is about 100 yuan lower.
Highlight 4: Luzhou Laojiao High-Profile Buyback of Old Products, Preparing New Liquor Museum Recently, reporters learned that Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd. is preparing to build a new Luzhou Laojiao Liquor Museum. To protect the company's historical culture, it is soliciting historically sold products from the public:
For Guojiao 1573 produced from 2001 to 2006, the Guojiao Company will repurchase at prices referenced to the Shanghai exchange, with 50 cases per year.
For Luzhou Laojiao Tequ and Touqu produced before 2000, the corresponding Tequ Company and Boda Company will repurchase at market prices, with 50 cases per year.
Highlight 5: AB InBev Claims Heineken Infringes Its New Beer Keg Design Recently, AB InBev claimed that Heineken infringed its proprietary innovative beer keg patent design and has filed a lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Heineken sought help from AB InBev regarding the design before 2015, but the two companies never reached an agreement. Heineken issued a statement saying it "disagrees with AB InBev's claims and is confident in this case."
Highlight 6: Yantang Dairy's First Smart Factory Officially Put into Operation Recently, Yantang Dairy's first smart factory officially went into operation, with maximum capacity reaching 250,000 tons per year. Since its listing, with capital support, Yantang Dairy has developed rapidly. According to Yantang Dairy's 2017 financial report, the company achieved operating revenue of 1.239 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.58%; net profit of 121 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.84%. With market expansion, Yantang encountered a capacity bottleneck. Two and a half years ago, Yantang began planning to invest in the Guangzhou Development Zone flagship factory. The production base has a total investment of over 600 million yuan, introducing world-leading production processes, manufacturing equipment, and quality management systems, achieving full-chain intelligent management, with annual capacity up to 250,000 tons.
New Products
Highlight 1: To Let You 'Indulge in Beer' at Work, Suntory Launches 'Transparent Beer' Recently, Japanese beer brand Suntory launched a new product, "All-Free All-Time." Although this drink is packaged in a regular transparent plastic bottle and looks clear, it actually tastes like beer. It targets the general public, so even office workers can enjoy it during work without issue. This new drink will go on sale from June 19, but the price is currently unknown. Suntory said it hopes to broaden the beverage category in this way, especially to "create more usage scenarios for non-alcoholic beer-flavored drinks," allowing you to "enjoy it without hesitation in the workplace."
Highlight 2: Kellogg's Launches New Version of Special K Cereal Bars According to recent foreign media reports, to meet consumer demand, Kellogg's said it will increase the size of its original Special K cereal bars, add vitamins B3, B6, and folic acid, and launch four new flavors: raspberry, milk chocolate, apricot raisin, and dark chocolate cranberry.
Rankings
Highlight 1: 2018 China Brand Value Ranking Released Recently, the China Brand Value Top 100 list was released. This list has been published for five consecutive years and is currently the most authoritative national brand evaluation ranking. Among food and beverage companies, a total of 8 enterprises made the top 100 brand value list. Among them, Wahaha firmly holds the "top seat" among food and beverage companies, ranking 37th. The dairy duo Yili and Mengniu also entered the top 100, ranking 54th and 75th respectively. Additionally, specialty food companies such as Shuanghui and Haitian also made the China Brand Value Top 100 list.
Industry News
Highlight 1: Juewei's 'Double 11' Incident Fades, Will Exceed 10,000 Stores This Year On May 9, Juewei Food held its 2017 annual shareholders' meeting in Changsha. The annual report shows that Juewei Food achieved operating revenue of 3.85 billion yuan in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 17.59%; net profit attributable to listed company shareholders of 502 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.93%; earnings per share of 1.26 yuan; dividend plan of 4.8 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares. Juewei Food Chairman Dai Wenjun admitted that last year's "Double 11" advertising incident did have an impact on sales revenue, but it gradually recovered after the first quarter of this year. He said that from the perspective of store distribution, the company's network shows a "two-end leaning" development pattern, meaning county-level markets and first-tier cities are growing relatively faster, while second- and third-tier cities in the middle are growing more slowly. Overall, the duck neck industry concentration is still low. The company plans to expand at a rate of 800 to 1,200 new stores per year, and will soon exceed 10,000 stores this year. According to the company's previous estimates, the domestic market plans to open 22,000 to 23,000 stores.
Highlight 2: Follow-up on Spain's 8 Tons of Fake Milk Powder: Beware of Three Cross-Border Shopping Traps, Tips to Avoid Fake Milk Powder On April 22, 2018, in an operation by the Spanish National Police and Europol, a factory used for packaging fake infant formula was seized, with a total of 8 tons of fake milk powder confiscated. The milk powder was sold through a website based in Poland. Fortunately, on April 26, the General Administration of Customs of China issued a statement confirming that this batch of Spanish fake milk powder did not enter China. On May 8, reporters learned that Dongwu Customs, under Hohhot Customs, seized a batch of smuggled milk powder from Mongolia at the Zhuengadabuqi port, weighing 268 kilograms. This is the largest seizure of smuggled milk powder by Dongwu Customs in recent years. It is understood that Dongwu Customs has cumulatively seized 3 cases of concealed milk powder this year, totaling 343 kilograms. Here we summarize three cross-border shopping traps. Have you fallen for them? Trap 1: "Repackaging" Trap 2: Counterfeit foreign goods Trap 3: "Factory direct" may be fake How can you avoid choosing fake milk powder?
Try to choose big brands.
Try to choose large platforms.
Pay attention to product sources; be cautious with daigou (personal shopping) and foreign trade stores.
Today's Video
Ma Yun's Latest English Speech: The Only Thing We Did Right Was 'Never Give Up'
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