Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow: Pijiu Profits Swell In China

Tom Arnstein | Apr 24, 2014 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 1774 reads

As the more discerning of you out there may have noticed … Actually, scrap that. As the more alcoholism-inclined of you out there may have noticed, there has been a boom in craft beer production in Beijing over the past few years with small-time breweries cropping up left, right and center. But it’s not just craft beer that is thriving; beer production nationwide is seeing healthy profits roll in.

China Daily reports that beer industry revenues hit RMB 181 billion in 2013 – an increase of over nine percent, with 21 percent profit and four percent in overall output – now surpassing that of wine and liquor. The east and south still account for the majority of beer consumption but it is the west that has seen the largest growth in the ingestion of liquid gold.
 
Although sales in all alcoholic drinks have suffered due to the CCP’s push to eradicate lavish banquet spending at the public’s expense, it appears officials and businessmen as well as the common consumer remain loyal to beer, which on average falls into the cheaper beverage bracket.
 
Also, despite the call for austerity, it is predicted that premium beer products will see the biggest turn in profits over the next decade, eventually accounting for 20 percent of the market but 50 percent of the takings.
 
At home, this is great news for innocuous, Tsingtao taste-alike Carlsberg, one of five companies now in control of 80 percent of the Chinese market, whereas abroad, Carlsberg taste-alike Tsingtao flourishes, with sales increasing by 30 percent annually in the US and 10 percent in Europe. Soon we won’t have to buy beer at all, given how contented we are with a delicious and refreshing glass of H20.
 
Photo: China Daily