---
title: "The Spring of Baijiu Going Global in the 'Low-Alcohol Era'"
description: "With the gradual relaxation of China's epidemic prevention policies, market expectations are optimistic, especially for the recovery of the consumer sector. Baijiu, as an important carrier of traditional Chinese culture, plays a crucial role in the consumer market. Although Baijiu in the primary market has not been favored by capital recently, the secondary market shows continuous favor, with the sector rising 6.94% in the past week and 19.30% in the past month. However, the export performance of Baijiu remains lackluster, and the article suggests that low-alcohol Baijiu may be the key to successful international expansion."
author: "编辑部"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2022-12-19"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-spring-of-baijiu-going-global-in-the-low-alcohol-era-1786ab49/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-spring-of-baijiu-going-global-in-the-low-alcohol-era-1786ab49.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/H2DptEQbVWrpy88kMjWm4w"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%99%BD%E9%85%92%E5%87%BA%E6%B5%B7%E7%9A%84%E6%98%A5%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%A8-%E5%BE%AE%E9%86%BA%E4%BD%8E%E5%BA%A6%E6%97%B6%E4%BB%A3-1786ab49.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-spring-of-baijiu-going-global-in-the-low-alcohol-era-1786ab49/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# The Spring of Baijiu Going Global in the 'Low-Alcohol Era'

> With the gradual relaxation of China's epidemic prevention policies, market expectations are optimistic, especially for the recovery of the consumer sector. Baijiu, as an important carrier of traditional Chinese culture, plays a crucial role in the consumer market. Although Baijiu in the primary market has not been favored by capital recently, the secondary market shows continuous favor, with the sector rising 6.94% in the past week and 19.30% in the past month. However, the export performance of Baijiu remains lackluster, and the article suggests that low-alcohol Baijiu may be the key to successful international expansion.

With the gradual relaxation of China's epidemic prevention policies, it is believed that market expectations are all positive. Especially for the recovery of the consumer sector, it is highly anticipated. Today, foreign trade teams from various domestic provinces are collectively going abroad to compete for orders. Image source: unsplash

Among them, Baijiu, as an important carrier of traditional Chinese culture, plays a vital role in the consumer market. Although in the past period, Baijiu in the primary market, like the overall consumer sector, was not favored by capital, judging from the recent reaction of the secondary market, Baijiu as a separate sector is indeed continuously favored by capital. The Baijiu sector rose 6.94% in the past week and 19.30% in the past month, outperforming the broader market. It can be said that the bud of consumption recovery sprouts in the Baijiu field, but where is the spring of Baijiu?

**Difficult Going Global, Underperforming Baijiu**

The culture of alcohol is very important to our traditional culture. In the new national standard released earlier this year, the English name of Baijiu was set as "Baijiu". From then on, "Baijiu" will officially serve as the official English name, which has a positive effect on the promotion of Baijiu and expanding its international influence. Speaking of Baijiu going global, the first image that comes to many people's minds should be the scene from the movie "A Chinese Odyssey" where Zixia Fairy leads a horse in the desert, dressed in red, carrying a small pot of wine. This perfectly matches the imagery of camel merchants on the ancient Silk Road.

Over thousands of years, although Baijiu began going global early and there are many cases of "going global", according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics and Customs, in 2021, China's Baijiu exports were 16,020 kiloliters, with an export value of 3.644 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 1057.9%), accounting for only 0.22% of total Baijiu production and 0.6% of total output value, less than 1% of the industry. This data is vastly different from the "growth" of imported wine and whiskey in China. Although Chinese Baijiu has had years of export experience and is often seen in news reports, such as Moutai's rising prices in Germany, Luzhou Laojiao partnering with the Australian Open, Jiannanchun appearing in Times Square, and Jiangxiaobai entering India, it can be said that Chinese Baijiu companies are actively laying out plans. Data shows that China's Baijiu production accounts for nearly 40% of global spirits production, but its share in the international market is less than 8%. According to data from the National Tax Service, in terms of export value among alcoholic beverages, although spirits are popular, with whiskey, gin, and vodka ranking high, Chinese Baijiu is not on the list.

**Is Low-Alcohol Baijiu the Spring?**

For Baijiu, China Customs data mentions that the overseas regions with the highest exports of Chinese Baijiu are Hong Kong (5,495,320 liters), South Korea (5,115,008 liters), and Japan (1,029,912 liters). Hong Kong, the primary export destination, mainly consumes wine; South Korea, one of the top three export destinations, saw low-alcohol soju (also a type of Baijiu) sales rank second only to beer in 2021; in Japan's 2021 alcoholic beverage market, the export value of low-alcohol products such as sake, liqueurs, and beer was second only to whiskey (a spirit). It can be said that **the three major export markets for Chinese Baijiu actually prefer non-spirits. From this, it is not difficult to see that the reason low-alcohol Baijiu performs better overseas is that it better aligns with local market consumption habits.**

Source: China Customs

In fact, for a long time, Baijiu has been a typical internal circulation industry, with "young consumer groups" being the foundation for sustainable internal circulation, and "overseas groups" being the broad new growth point for the future. Although Chinese Baijiu's export performance is mediocre, among the various Baijiu going global, we found that relatively better export performance is achieved by "low-alcohol Baijiu" (Baijiu with lower alcohol content than traditional Baijiu, but slightly higher than strictly defined low-alcohol liquor), such as Jiujiang Shuangzheng (usually 29-31 degrees) and Jiangxiaobai.

**Another reason for Baijiu's export difficulties, while low-alcohol Baijiu is highly feasible, is that Baijiu has fallen out of favor with modern young people.** According to the "2019 China Alcohol Consumption Behavior White Paper" released by Hurun, due to the high price of high-alcohol Baijiu, consumers are often concentrated among men born in the 1970s and 1980s. Young people, however, pursue trends and individuality, making foreign spirits their choice. Therefore, at the same price point, fashion-conscious young people naturally choose "imported" spirits over high-alcohol Baijiu. Even for non-young people, foreigners also like to drink, but the alcohol content of Chinese Baijiu is still too high for them.

On the other hand, in the low-alcohol field, the most prominent influence is from young female consumers. Young women's spending on low-alcohol red wine, fruit wine, Japanese sake, and other products is increasing year by year. Moreover, their purchasing power is also rising year by year. **So, it seems that low-alcohol liquor is what young people love most now.** Looking only at the domestic market, JD.com's 2021 Double 11 alcohol sales data shows that within one minute of sales, low-alcohol drinks increased by 22 times year-on-year, and craft beer increased by 10 times. Tmall platform data shows that in addition to traditional high-alcohol Baijiu, the number of buyers of low-alcohol drinks during 2021 Double 11 increased by over 50%, and craft beer sales growth was nearly 250%. Even many media and news platforms are exclaiming that the spring of low-alcohol liquor has arrived! Tmall can even add 5,000+ low-alcohol brands in a year, which is surprising. From this, it seems that low-alcohol liquor may indeed be the true "spring of Baijiu going global".

Source: Internet

At the National Sugar and Wine Trade Fair ("Sugar and Wine Fair"), where major alcohol players gather, this year there was also a separate exhibition area for low-alcohol trendy drinks. The low-alcohol trendy drink exhibition area was arranged in a younger, more fashionable style, and new brands such as Helens, Zuie Niang, and Xiaozui attracted many distributors, naturally also attracting more young customers. According to the "2022 Low-Alcohol Trend Report", young consumers' pursuit of low-alcohol drinks has driven the rise of the low-alcohol category, and by 2025, China's low-alcohol market size is expected to reach 74.3 billion yuan.

Image source: "2022 Low-Alcohol Trend Report"

For low-alcohol liquor, national policies are also continuously supporting and promoting it. In January 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Modern Light Industry System (Draft for Comments)" for comments. In the brewing field, the draft proposes developing diversified, fashionable, personalized, and low-alcohol Baijiu products for young consumer groups and foreign consumer groups. Therefore, when the "tipsy economy" strikes and the domestic low-alcohol market competition begins, coinciding with the easing of the epidemic and policy relaxation, Baijiu companies are not limited to the domestic market but actively expand into the overseas blue ocean, naturally making "low-alcohol liquor", which better fits young consumer groups and overseas drinking habits, the first choice.

**Difficulties in Going Global and Strategies for Adaptation**

In the past, everyone said that Baijiu is not popular overseas mainly due to taste differences and dietary habit differences. Is that really the case? Actually, no. **The difficulty of Baijiu going global mainly lies in the drinking habits and consumer generation changes mentioned earlier. Another point is that the difficulty is due to "unfair" market policies and "mechanical imitation" in marketing promotion.**

In terms of policy, when China joined the WTO, it classified alcoholic beverages as ordinary consumer goods, while other countries classified them as special commodities, resulting in high barriers for Chinese alcoholic beverages entering other countries, but it is much easier for overseas alcoholic beverages to enter China. This has made it difficult for Chinese alcoholic products to be listed overseas, while overseas alcoholic products thrive in China. Of course, in response to this, China is also actively promoting policies, and governments at all levels are trying every means to support the development of Baijiu. It is understood that to help Luzhou Baijiu companies accelerate their expansion into the international market, Luzhou Customs not only actively assists Baijiu companies in research and promotion to help Luzhou Baijiu successfully enter the international market, but also implements "one enterprise, one policy" measures, designating business backbones to connect with Baijiu export companies, understand their export needs, guide them to proactively respond to foreign technical trade measures, and help Luzhou Dalong Liquor Co., Ltd. go abroad and expand overseas markets.

Image source: "2022 Low-Alcohol Trend Report"

In terms of marketing, past Chinese Baijiu strategies were also simple imitation, but they ignored the unique characteristics of Chinese Baijiu. Chinese Baijiu produces complex aromas through fermentation with unique "qu" (starter). It has its own distinct charm. Unlike overseas alcohol's "scenario-based" marketing, such as wine at dinners, spirits at parties, and cocktails in bars, **now Chinese Baijiu not only needs to maintain "occasion-based" promotion but also add "scenario-based" marketing.**

First, like Li Ziqi's homemade fruit wine, which had considerable views on overseas platforms, many low-alcohol liquors with Chinese elements have gradually attracted a new group of overseas consumers. For example, Luzhou Laojiao has successively launched fruit wines such as "Qingyu", "Huajianzhuo", "Shiguang", and "Taohuazui", which are not only full of Chinese style but also have poetic brand names, attracting overseas Chinese nostalgic for their homeland and foreigners curious about Chinese culture. At the same time, these styles are also more acceptable to female groups.

Second, brand co-branding might be another new marketing outlet. For example, "MissBerry" co-branded with ice cream brand Dongbei Daban to launch a refreshing ice cream wine, highlighting childhood memories in the packaging to evoke consumers' nostalgia. This is a marketing strategy that low-alcohol liquor and even Baijiu can learn from.

Finally, there is a new promotional method combining "occasion and scenario". After all, behind the internationalization of Baijiu is a more advanced form of cultural export. No matter how much it imitates foreign spirits' scenario-based marketing, it still cannot be separated from Chinese culture. High-end Cantonese liquor Lingyue 1821 has the best promotional method. In terms of scenario, it is a high-end Baijiu consumed with Cantonese cuisine; in terms of occasion, it responds to Cantonese culture, or specifically Cantonese language culture. As a typical representative of Jiujiang Shuangzheng, it fully demonstrates the international expression of Chinese Baijiu. It has created the slogan "Where there are Chinese people, there is Jiujiang Shuangzheng liquor", making it the "hometown water, hometown wine" for overseas Chinese.

Image source: Lingyue 1821

From this, it can be seen that the path to internationalizing Chinese Baijiu should involve food pairing. As mentioned at the 2022 China (Shenzhen) International Famous Wine Exhibition and the First China Employment New Momentum Conference, "To promote Baijiu, the best way is to weaken the irritation and burning sensation of alcohol through food pairing, while amplifying flavors such as floral and fruity notes that foreign consumers like." Although in the past year or two, the epidemic has stalled the internationalization of Baijiu, after policy relaxation, the entire consumer market will drive the Baijiu market forward and "break through" overseas. In this process, low-alcohol Baijiu may be a more promising choice. Of course, whether it is low-alcohol or high-alcohol liquor, the most effective marketing method for Baijiu is the combination of "occasion and scenario" with effective cultural and culinary promotion.


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671