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State Capital Returns to Jiannanchun
For Jiannanchun, the return of Mianzhu state capital to the shareholder table marks a new era of joint governance by private and state capital, which is expected to help the brand's second rise. After more than a decade of internal turmoil, the company is now seeking to repair its brand, strategy, and channels with the increased voice of state capital.
杨伟Has Moutai Failed to Win Over Young Consumers?
At the shareholders' meeting of Kweichow Moutai eight months ago, Zhang Deqin, attending as chairman for the first time, stated that if certain innovations in the market were not suitable for Moutai, the company would stop pursuing them. At that time, there were no reports of the sauce-flavored latte being discontinued or Moutai ice cream stores closing. These products, along with i-Moutai, were key tools in the youth-oriented strategy under Ding Xiongjun's leadership. However, with a change in leadership, Moutai's youth strategy appears to be shifting.
杨伟Can Xinyang Maojian Tolerate金星 Beer?
After a period of silence,金星 Beer has become a hit with its Xinyang Maojian Chinese-style craft beer, but it may be short-lived. The Xinyang Tea Association unilaterally terminated the brand authorization, potentially shelving the strategic product of this Henan beer giant. Last week,金星 Beer expressed strong dissatisfaction and considered shutting down its Xinyang subsidiary. The dispute quickly went viral, bringing金星 Beer back into the public eye. Tea beer is an attempt at tea-alcohol integration in Henan this year. Wenxin Tea, a leading tea company in Xinyang, was the first to participate, with金星 Beer as its contract manufacturer.
杨伟Baijiu Consumption Downgrade: Can Bottled Wine Hold the Bottom?
The trend of baijiu consumption downgrading is unstoppable, and in this context, bottled wine (guangpingjiu) is riding the wave. This raises the question: can bottled wine, targeting mass consumers, hold the bottom for the liquor industry? In fact, the changes in the baijiu consumption market are not simply a reduction in price demand, but the result of an aging consumer base, users' pursuit of high cost-performance products, and the diversification of young people's needs. It should be noted that the 'pyramid structure' created by decades of baijiu marketization is not so easy to collapse. Whether bottled wine can support an important pole in the dumbbell-shaped structure remains uncertain.
杨伟Carlsberg China: Only Chongqing Brewery Left?
The recent transfer of control of a Gansu-listed company has drawn attention in the beer industry. As the former 'Northwest King' of beer, Lanzhou Yellow River has long declined, losing competitiveness in China's mainstream beer market. Therefore, after new shareholders take over, injecting assets to promote restructuring of the listed company has been a plan set over a decade ago. Carlsberg, which jointly operates Yellow River and Qinghai Lake beers with Lanzhou Yellow River, faces a choice: exit completely or take over these assets? Carlsberg China has faced such decisions several times before.
杨伟Beer Premiumization Enters the Second Half
2023 was a year of reversal for the beer industry, with production and sales surging in the first half but suddenly stalling in the second, leaving annual growth at just 0.3%. In previous years, local beers were rising while foreign beers declined, but last year Budweiser China and Carlsberg regained momentum, putting growth pressure on China Resources Beer and Tsingtao Brewery. The main reason is that local beer premiumization lacks a solid foundation, having achieved initial premiumization through top-down price increases, but still falling short in product strength, brand power, and control over high-end channels. The second half of China's beer premiumization requires a new approach to seize the initiative in the high-end beer market.
杨伟Tinghua Liquor Trips Up Zhang Xuefeng Again
Among the brands named on CCTV's 3·15 Gala, Qinghai Spring's Tinghua liquor suffered the most. A dream of immortality, three Nobel laureates, and a sky-high priced bottle of Tinghua—this night cemented its reputation for false advertising and being a 'stupidity tax.' Years ago, under Zhang Xuefeng's leadership, Qinghai Spring earned billions annually through the exorbitantly priced Jicao. After regulatory crackdowns, Jicao exited the market. From cordyceps to ultra-premium baijiu, Zhang's product and branding approach is identical, and he has been tripped by the same stone again. After this setback, Tinghua may not completely exit the market, but once the story is exposed, how can this sky-high priced liquor sustain its value? More importantly, Qinghai Spring has been loss-making for four consecutive years—what else can the company rely on?
杨伟Foreign Beer Declines, Local Beer Rises
As summer approaches, the Chinese beer market is witnessing a shift in power: local brands are upgrading their products and gaining ground, while foreign beers are losing their dominance and cutting prices. This transformation is driven by product innovation, channel diversification, and brand building by domestic players.
杨伟Who Will Become China's Beer King?
In 2022, while baijiu, wine, and yellow wine collectively declined, only the beer industry achieved overall growth. The three local beer giants—China Resources Beer, Tsingtao Brewery, and Yanjing Beer—all saw significant profit increases. This steady recovery has continued into this year. The new cycle of beer has finally arrived. China has long been the world's largest beer market, with a lively competition among the top five players. However, local leading players that have grown on the back of this huge market have yet to form global influence. In the future, if possible, who could become China's version of the beer king...
杨伟China's Beer Industry Finally Has a New Story
After a decade without new narratives, China's beer market is seeing a resurgence driven by premiumization, with craft beer and fresh beer gaining traction and supply chain models emerging. While the top five giants still dominate, new players are influencing the industry's direction, promising a more segmented market.
杨伟The Rise and Fall of Brands Behind the Baijiu Tycoon
Today, Zhenjiu Lidu became the first baijiu stock on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making Wu Xiangdong, known as the 'Godfather of Baijiu', the new richest person in the industry with a net worth of 30 billion yuan. The baijiu industry has created many wealthy individuals, most of whom started through mixed-ownership reforms and management buyouts, a model that has faced controversies over the years.
杨伟Huge Subsidies Create False Impression of Beer Industry Recovery: Tsingtao 1.5 Billion in 3 Years, Zhujiang 800 Million in 1 Year
As beer listed companies such as Tsingtao Brewery and Zhujiang Brewery successively released their 2017 results, the talk of 'recovery' has grown louder, but the abnormally high subsidies have once again sparked controversy. In fact, the beer industry's high subsidies and heavy reliance on them have persisted for years. Tsingtao Brewery and Yanjing Brewery have received subsidies exceeding 100 million yuan for nearly a decade, and this has intensified with the industry's adjustment in recent years. From 2014 to 2016, 60% of China Resources Beer's net profit came from subsidies. Bubbles have never only appeared in beer glasses. Beer performance propped up by subsidies...
杨伟Fever Breaks: China's Beer Giants Quietly Retrench—Tsingtao Retreats to Shandong, Yanjing Regroups in North China
In the beer world, most have heard of the rich 'Deadly Dalu Wusu', the authentic Tsingtao No.1 Brewery, and the original Harbin Beer, but outsiders rarely get to taste them. Beer is inherently regional; apart from national giants like Snow, Tsingtao, and Yanjing, most brands are active only in certain areas. In recent years, as the beer market has declined for three consecutive years, brewers have had to 'rearrange the shelves' to escape the mire. Besides adjusting product lines to develop high-end new products and closing low-end idle capacity, the giants are quietly retrenching and returning to their core markets.
杨伟The Truth Behind Why Domestic Beer Is Getting Worse: Packaging Is the Most Expensive Part, Raw Materials Only Account for 1/5 of Costs
For beer lovers, Qingdao is a great place because you can get more and purer beer for the same money, as beer is sold in plastic bags, avoiding the cost of bottles, which account for over 50% of a beer's cost. From an economic perspective, beer companies are spending less on raw materials and production, making beer taste worse.
杨伟Foreign Capital Takes Turns 'Favoring' Tsingtao Brewery: AB InBev Made 4x in 6 Years, What Will Asahi's 8-Year Vigil Bring?
Foreign investors have successively held the second-largest stake in Tsingtao Brewery, with AB InBev from 2002 to 2009 and Asahi from 2009 to the present. Asahi may be exiting, and Carlsberg could take over, potentially reshaping China's beer market.
杨伟AB InBev and Carlsberg's China Strategy: How They Captured Half of China's Beer Market in 20 Years
When expanding aggressively in the Chinese market, AB InBev's tactics have a somewhat 'cunning hero' quality. To build a new factory in a region, it negotiates with four or five cities, signs framework agreements, and then waits for these cities to bid against each other, with the most favorable policies winning. Before the final announcement, no one knows what AB InBev is up to. When AB InBev planned to enter Hebei, it negotiated with Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiakou, Langfang, and Baoding simultaneously, ultimately choosing Qingyuan in Baoding. The same pattern was used in Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, and other regions.
杨伟A Map of China's Beer Market: Five Giants Divide the World's Largest Beer Market
As the summer solstice arrives, beer consumption peaks. The choices consumers make at BBQ stalls, supermarkets, and nightclubs are the result of fierce competition among brewers. The national beer market is divided among major players: China Resources Snow dominates nationwide, battling Budweiser in the northeast, east, and south; Tsingtao holds Shandong and clashes with Yanjing in the north and central regions; Carlsberg quietly consolidates the west and eyes the east.
杨伟Yanjing Collapses, Tsingtao in Peril, Snow Faces Isolation, Chongqing Brewery Commendable but Foreign-Owned
Summer has arrived, but the beer industry's annual reports cast a shadow over the season. In 2016, China's beer production fell 4.4% year-on-year, with major players like Yanjing, Tsingtao, and Snow all suffering profit declines. Amid the downturn, Chongqing Brewery stands out for its premiumization and capacity reduction strategies, though it is now foreign-owned.
杨伟