Liquor and date companies are clustering into cross-industry ventures - but is selling beer profitable?
**Beijing Yanjing Brewery's Half-Year Earnings Surpass Full Previous Year**
As of publication, except for Pearl River Beer, the remaining 6 A-share beer stocks have disclosed their 2025 interim reports. Among them, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd., Tsingtao Brewery, and Huiquan Beer recorded revenue growth of 6.37%, 2.11%, and 1.03% year-on-year respectively, while Chongqing Beer, Pinwo Foods, and *ST Lanhuang saw revenue declines of 0.24%, 8.69%, and 15.82% respectively.
Tsingtao Brewery analyzed that the year-on-year increase in operating revenue was mainly due to increased sales volume during the reporting period. The interim report shows that in the first half of 2025, Tsingtao Brewery achieved product sales of 4.732 million kiloliters, up 2.3% year-on-year; Tsingtao Beer's main brand achieved product sales of 2.713 million kiloliters, up 3.9% year-on-year.
In terms of net profit, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd. achieved attributable net profit of 1.103 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, already exceeding the full-year 2024 net profit of 1.056 billion yuan!
Compared to the first half of 2024, attributable net profits of Pinwo Foods, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd., Huiquan Beer, and Tsingtao Brewery increased by 181.65%, 45.45%, 25.52%, and 7.21% respectively, while Chongqing Beer and *ST Lanhuang saw attributable net profit declines of 4.03% and 45.29% respectively.
This means Chongqing Beer experienced its first simultaneous decline in both revenue and net profit since mid-2015.
*ST Lanhuang noted that in the first half of 2025, market competition in the company's territorial market intensified further. Although the company increased marketing efforts in the early stage, it failed to drive rapid growth in beer sales, resulting in certain losses in the current period's performance.
Previously, Pearl River Beer released its "2025 Interim Performance Forecast" on July 10, predicting that attributable net profit for the first half would be 575-625 million yuan, representing a 15%-25% increase compared to the same period last year.
Pearl River Beer stated that during this reporting period, the company's high-quality development pace became more stable, product structure continued to optimize, achieving year-on-year growth in both beer sales volume and operating revenue.
**"Industry Sales Volume Expected to Show Weak Recovery"**
Regarding beer sales volume, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd., Huiquan Beer, and Chongqing Beer increased by 2.03%, 1.61%, and 0.95% year-on-year respectively; *ST Lanhuang declined by 37.66%.
From a longer-term perspective, Tsingtao Brewery's product sales and main brand sales have rebounded from decline; Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd. and Huiquan Beer's beer sales accelerated growth, Chongqing Beer's sales growth slowed, and *ST Lanhuang's beer sales accelerated decline.
A research report from GF Securities dated August 8 pointed out that with the eligible drinking population remaining stable, A-share beer companies all achieved strong starts in Q1 2025. Listed companies proactively developed circulation and instant retail channels, seizing development opportunities amid industry changes. In the new industry cycle, more attention should be paid to demand-side changes, with peak season weather still requiring monthly observation. Overall, GF Securities believes that beer industry sales volume is expected to show weak recovery in 2025.
Based on these calculations, the per-ton prices (operating revenue/sales volume) for Chongqing Beer, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd., Tsingtao Brewery, Huiquan Beer, and *ST Lanhuang were 4,908.37 yuan/kiloliter, 3,357.57 yuan/kiloliter, 4,330.09 yuan/kiloliter, 2,846.53 yuan/kiloliter, and 3,622.45 yuan/kiloliter respectively, representing year-on-year changes of -1.19%, 4.75%, -0.11%, -0.79%, and 26.38%.
Guohai Securities believes that the overall beer market pattern is established, and low-price competition cannot bring volume increases and per-ton price growth (through price increases). Premium upgrades are the long-term driving force for achieving price growth in China's beer industry.
Industrial Securities pointed out that under stock competition, leading companies focus on premium consensus, with short-term pace potentially slowing but medium-to-long-term resilience continuing throughout the cycle. Industrial Securities believes that beer premiumization remains the main medium-to-long-term trend and the key to competitive success, while second-curve extension exploration is expected to open long-term imagination space.
**Craft Beer Sector Welcomes Cross-Industry Capital**
Since the third quarter, liquor and date companies have clustered into cross-industry ventures in the craft beer sector, with relatively high pricing.
On August 7, Wuliangye's subsidiary Wuliangye Xianlin Ecological Liquor Industry officially announced Chinese-style five-grain craft beer "Fenghuo Wheel," priced at 19.5 yuan/390ml (can). On the afternoon of August 8, Wu Xiangdong, chairman of "Hong Kong's first liquor stock" Zhenjiu Lidu Group, launched his first personal livestream, introducing the company's first high-end craft beer product "Bull Market News," with a suggested retail price of 88 yuan/375ml (bottle).
On July 29, "China's first jujube stock" Haoxiangni revealed that the company has launched beer-related products through e-commerce and specialty store channels. Checking Haoxiangni's Tmall flagship store, Haoxiangni's "Baoxi Wine" multi-flavor Chinese-style craft beer is originally priced from 28.11 yuan/L (bottle).
Some analysts believe that cross-industry participants are attracted by the growth opportunities in the craft beer market. According to the China Research and Intelligence "2025-2030 China Craft Beer Industry Competition Analysis and Development Prospect Forecast Report," based on China's craft beer market size of approximately 68 billion yuan in 2024, it is expected to exceed 104 billion yuan in 2025.
Nevertheless, beer marketing expert Fang Gang recently told media that the craft beer industry is facing a "siege effect." In recent years, as the liquor and wine industries have adjusted, craft beer has grown against the trend, naturally attracting external capital to enter and seek profits. Success in craft beer requires brand or channel advantage support, but the craft beer market is also concentrating toward leading brands internally, making survival difficult for "white label" products lacking these advantages.
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