On August 27, Nongfu Spring announced its 2024 interim results. The announcement showed that in the first half of 2024, Nongfu Spring's overall revenue was RMB 22.173 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%. Affected by online rumors, packaged drinking water revenue fell 18.3% compared to the same period last year, but beverage revenue increased 36.7% year-on-year. Among them, tea beverages grew 59.5% year-on-year. According to Nielsen data, the star product Oriental Leaf grew over 90%, leading the unsweetened tea market development. This interim results announcement is the first to show a link between online rumors and financial performance. Before the public opinion crisis, in January and February 2024, Nongfu Spring's bottled water sales revenue increased 19.0% year-on-year, while in the first half of the year, packaged drinking water revenue fell 18.3% year-on-year. Industry insiders estimate that this prolonged public opinion crisis caused Nongfu Spring's first-half revenue loss to exceed RMB 7 billion. Online rumors continue to this day Packaged drinking water segment declines for the first time In the report, Nongfu Spring pointed out that since late February, a large number of online attacks and malicious defamation against Nongfu Spring and its founder have appeared, seriously negatively impacting the brand and sales. This caused Nongfu Spring's packaged drinking water revenue to decline significantly for the first time, down 18.3% compared to the same period last year. In response to the attacks of rumors and malicious remarks, Nongfu Spring issued multiple statements through official channels, and on May 20 released "Rumors and Truths About Nongfu Spring and Founder Zhong Shanshan Since February 25 | More Important Than Traffic Is Truth, Based on the Judgment of Right and Wrong Based on Facts," refuting 20 major rumors one by one. In June this year, the Central Cyberspace Administration's "Qinglang" campaign exposed typical cases, and a number of self-media accounts involved in Nongfu Spring rumors were shut down according to law and regulations. But after this series of measures, the rumors against Nongfu Spring have still not been curbed. Tea beverages grow against the trend Oriental Leaf continues to drive the rapid development of the unsweetened tea market The interim results announcement showed that Nongfu Spring's beverage revenue increased 36.7% year-on-year. Among them, tea beverage products increased 59.5% year-on-year, continuing rapid growth. According to Nielsen retail data, from January to June 2024, Oriental Leaf sales increased over 90% year-on-year, almost doubling compared to the same period last year. According to Nielsen data, as of now, Oriental Leaf holds over 70% share of the unsweetened tea market, occupying an absolute dominant position and becoming a benchmark that the entire industry seeks to emulate. Under the demonstration of Oriental Leaf, more and more brands have begun to imitate Oriental Leaf's products and strategies, and the entire unsweetened tea market continues to expand. In the first half of 2024 alone, there were over 50 new tea beverage products. Industry insiders commented that the success of Oriental Leaf is not based on the redistribution of the existing market, but on creating entirely new demand. Oriental Leaf has single-handedly opened a new growth area for China's beverage industry. Oriental Leaf was launched in 2011, and the investment in research and development, equipment, etc. before its launch exceeded RMB 1 billion. It took eight years for the product to finally accumulate a slight profit, and it was not until recent years that it experienced explosive growth, leading the growth of the unsweetened tea market. On August 10, Nongfu Spring Chairman Zhong Shanshan said on CCTV's "Dialogue" program, "Our tea has been around for over ten years since 2012 and 2013. In the first six years, we didn't make money, but by 2021, the growth curve started to rise." It is expected that in the future, with the improvement of tea raw material quality, Oriental Leaf will further play a benchmark role in the unsweetened tea market. Zhong Shanshan mentioned in "Dialogue": "Tea is actually very, very Chinese, a product with the soul of China. I want to use industrial methods to organize farmers' intensification, to popularize tea in every household, and as a very elegant civilization on the land of China, spread it to the world again!"