We are pleased to announce that Mr. Yang Ji has officially joined the Research and Development Department of China Securities Co., Ltd. (CSC) as the Head of Major Consumer Research and Chief Analyst for the Food and Beverage industry. With 13 years of industry experience and 6 years in sell-side research, Mr. Yang has served over 80% of listed liquor companies, and his industry perspective aligns closely with CSC's development philosophy.
Moving forward, Mr. Yang will oversee the integration of research resources within the major consumer sector, breaking down barriers between sub-sectors and establishing cross-segment collaboration mechanisms. Leveraging his profound industry expertise and resources, the team will focus on core trends such as new channel transformations, new category innovations, health-conscious consumption, emotional value consumption, and consumer brands going global. They will also seek breakthroughs in Hong Kong stock and international research directions, aiming to produce research outcomes with both industrial depth and investment value, providing investors with precise insights.
Mr. Yang's addition will significantly enhance our research capabilities in the consumer sector, helping the company seize first-mover advantages amid industry changes. We will continue to gather high-quality industry resources, deepen industrial insights, and strive to provide clients with more comprehensive and forward-looking major consumer research services, working together to grasp structural opportunities and promote the high-quality development of the real economy.
Mr. Yang Ji's Personal Resume Introduction Head of Major Consumer Research and Chief Food & Beverage Industry Analyst at CSC, with 13 years of industry work experience and 6 years of securities firm experience. Previously served as a partner at a leading consulting firm and Deputy Secretary-General of the Expert Committee of the China Alcoholic Drinks Circulation Association. He has led teams serving nearly 80% of listed liquor companies and multiple consumer goods companies, possessing profound professional thinking, a leading industry perspective, and deep industry accumulation.
In 2024, his team won 9 best analyst awards. They were shortlisted for the New Fortune ranking for three consecutive years from 2022 to 2024. They achieved first place in the Wind Golden Analyst ranking in 2023 and second place in 2024. They were named Sina's Golden Unicorn Best Analyst and Rising Star in 2022, 2023, and 2024, third place in the 2024 Golden Bull Award, 2024 21st Century Golden Analyst and Annual Growth Analyst, Shanghai Securities News Best Analyst from 2022 to 2024, and Eastmoney Choice Best Analyst from 2022 to 2024, among others.
The following is a sharing from Mr. Yang Ji: A New Start at Forty: Though Part of the 'Older Wave,' My Heart Leans Towards the New Tide! My growth has involved a transition from professional thinking to industrial thinking, and then to securities thinking. In 2007, I had the privilege of joining Shengchu Consulting, a liquor industry consulting agency, thus entering the consumer field. During nearly thirteen years at this company, renowned as the "Whampoa Military Academy" of the liquor industry, I grew from a newcomer to a partner and platform general manager, and had the honor of serving as Deputy Secretary-General of the Expert Committee of the China Alcoholic Drinks Circulation Association, fully participating in and witnessing the fluctuations and prosperity of the liquor industry. During this time, I directly or indirectly served nearly 80% of listed liquor companies, leading teams to provide in-depth support for well-known brands like Wuliangye, Gujing Gongjiu, and Yanghe Blue Classic in areas such as strategy building, channel management, and product planning, gradually completing the leap from professional thinking to industrial thinking.
After leaving the consulting industry, I transitioned to a sell-side analyst, continuing to deeply cultivate the food and beverage sector while closely monitoring new consumption trends. I am well aware that an excellent industry researcher does not automatically become an outstanding securities analyst. To this end, I constructed a research framework centered on economic cycles, industry cycles, inventory cycles, product cycles, and entrepreneur cycles. Using this framework, I accurately grasped the fluctuations in the baijiu industry from 2012–2016 and the subsequent five-year bull market. During the industry's transformation period, I continuously recommended outperforming baijiu stocks, achieving a sublimation from industrial thinking to securities thinking, and was jokingly called "Ji, the God of Wine" by peers.
Beyond baijiu, during my six years in sell-side research, I have also identified opportunities in sub-sectors such as snack franchising, health-functional products, and upstream food additives, consistently focusing on the investment logic behind retail format changes. Simultaneously, I maintain close tracking of emerging directions like value-for-money consumption, blockbuster health products, new restaurant formats, emotional/self-indulgence consumption, and brand globalization, gradually accumulating experience in judging enterprise cost cycles, restaurant chain recoveries, and new retail models. These will also become key areas for our future focus.
The writer Lu Yao once said, "Only with the passion of first love and the will of religion can one possibly achieve some kind of cause." Today, carrying my original passion and enthusiasm for consumer research, I officially join the Research and Development Department of CSC as the Head of Major Consumer Research and Chief Food & Beverage Analyst. I thank the company's leadership for their trust, giving me the opportunity to continue practicing the concept of "industry-finance integration" on this platform and expanding the boundaries of research.
Standing at the age of forty, I hope to maintain the accumulation of the "older wave" while eagerly seeking to understand the new consumer language of the younger generation. I will continue to uphold the attitude of "grounding research in industry, doing solid work" and advance efforts in three aspects: First, leveraging our industrial resources, trend insights, and stock-picking capabilities in the food and beverage field, and utilizing CSC's advantages in integrating primary and secondary markets to produce more down-to-earth and valuable research outputs. Second, collaborating with细分 teams within the major consumer group, such as home appliances, agriculture, social services/retail, and light industry/textiles/education, to focus on new trends like value-for-money consumption, emotional consumption, health-oriented products, restaurant chain recovery, retail transformation, and brand globalization, integrating traditional frameworks with new paradigms to capture structural opportunities. Third, relying on the company's global research perspective, integrating domestic and international resources, and building a research bridge connecting the capital market with the global consumer industry through cross-border roadshows, international summits, and other forms, striving to elevate CSC's major consumer research to new heights.
Looking ahead to 2026, the consumer and food & beverage sectors have undergone deep adjustments, with valuations at low levels. The A-share food and beverage sector was among the worst performers in 2025, and valuations for the Hong Kong stock consumer sector are also at relatively low levels. We believe next year is expected to present five types of investment opportunities: 1. Opportunities in Traditional Consumer Blue-Chips: One category, represented by baijiu, dairy products, beef cattle, etc., involves a top-down search for cyclical inflection points for allocation opportunities, including the inventory cycle of baijiu and Maotai's wholesale price, the raw milk cycle for dairy, the beef cattle cycle and pig cycle in agriculture, and the molasses cost cycle. Among these, the bottom logic for quality assets represented by baijiu is clear, potentially presenting another major ten-year bottom investment opportunity. Another category of consumer blue-chips, represented by traditional home appliance and apparel leaders—quality manufacturing leaders—partly focuses more on low valuation and high dividend value, suitable for dollar-cost averaging investment strategies. 2. Changes, Recovery, and New Channel Dividends on the Channel Side: This encompasses restaurant chain recovery, adjustments to online and offline traditional channels, and also includes hotels and the travel chain. Comparatively, we place more emphasis on structural opportunities such as companies benefiting from restaurant chain recovery, dividends from retail transformations like Sam's Club and Pang Donglai, new chain formats and store types like snack franchising and discount supermarkets, the latter half of competition among tea beverage companies, and the latter half of the 'three-way battle' in online food delivery. 3. Product-Side Consumption Still Holds Logic for Blockbuster Products Centered on Health, Functionality, Value-for-Money, and Emotional Value: Specifically, this includes the continuation of investment opportunities in new emotional value consumption like pets, trendy toys, gaming, and short dramas; health-oriented and functional foods, beverages, health products, upstream raw materials, and synthetic biology targets are all within our key focus areas. 4. Globalization Investment Opportunities: Covering both brand globalization and manufacturing globalization; simultaneously, against the backdrop of US policy uncertainty, paying more attention to opportunities in Southeast Asia and Europe. 5. Finally, Policy-Related Investment Opportunities: National subsidy policies, trade-in policies, birth policies, and free trade zone policies in places like Hainan and Fujian will also bring some investment opportunities.
Comments