Huangjiu industry weighs premium route or mass-market push to go national
In short
China's huangjiu (yellow rice wine) industry is debating two routes to expand beyond Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai: a baijiu-style premium push through aged liquor, gift boxes and banquets, or a beer-style mass-market push through 8-degree sparkling canned drinks sold in livestreams and at barbecue stalls. Above-scale huangjiu makers fell from 121 in 2017 to 76 in 2025, and in 2025 industry sales revenue and profit fell 4.8% and 4.9%, while growth was split unevenly among the three listed makers. Kuaijishan's mid-to-high-end liquor carried a 67.33% gross margin in 2025 against 42.25% for ordinary huangjiu, but the articles say consumers outside the home region still have no shared habit of drinking huangjiu, which makes a high price hard to sell.
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China's huangjiu (yellow rice wine) industry is debating two routes to expand beyond its home market of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, according to an analysis published by Huxiu, TMTPost and Jiemian. One route copies baijiu: high-end aged liquor, gift boxes, banquets and group buying, with distributors who previously sold Moutai and Wuliangye now approaching huangjiu makers. The other copies beer and low-alcohol drinks: 8-degree sparkling huangjiu in cans, drunk cold, pushed into livestreams, barbecue stalls and young people's gatherings. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
The industry base is shrinking. Above-scale huangjiu companies fell from 121 in 2017 to 81 in 2023 and 76 in 2025, and in 2025 industry sales revenue and profit fell 4.8% and 4.9% respectively, the articles said. Combined revenue of the three listed makers — Kuaijishan, Guyuelongshan and Jinfeng — rose from about 3.476 billion yuan in 2021 to 4.181 billion yuan in 2025, roughly 20% over four years, but the gains were uneven: Kuaijishan rose from 1.25 billion to 1.822 billion yuan and Guyuelongshan from 1.577 billion to 1.831 billion yuan, while Jinfeng fell from 649 million to 528 million yuan. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Premiumization is the more profitable route on the numbers, the articles said: Kuaijishan's mid-to-high-end liquor carried a gross margin of 67.33% in 2025, against 42.25% for ordinary huangjiu. Baijiu is held up as the model, accounting for about 8.5% of beverage-alcohol output in 2025 but about 74% of the sector's revenue and 86% of its profit. The obstacle, the articles said, is that drinkers outside the home region have no shared assumption about when huangjiu should be served, so a pricey bottle still needs explaining at the table. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
The mass-market route has its own evidence. Guyuelongshan's “Wugaodi”, priced at 25-50 yuan, passed 5 million bottles in two years, with more than 60% of sales outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai and more than 30% of consumers under 35; Kuaijishan's “Shuangjiu” grew from a few million yuan in sales into a 100-million-yuan-scale product. The articles pointed to beer's history, when output rose from about 22.31 million kilolitres and 44.6 billion yuan in revenue in 2000 to 50.62 million kilolitres and 181.4 billion yuan in 2013. They also noted the cost: Kuaijishan's sales expense ratio rose from 14.7% to 26%, and its advertising and promotion spending from 81 million to 267 million yuan. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Early signs of national reach are still small in absolute terms. The articles reported that Kuaijishan's revenue outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai rose 76.59% year on year in the first half of 2026, to 134 million yuan, which they described as a start rather than a national customer base. [ 2 , 3 ]
Huxiu's version of the analysis concluded that huangjiu should learn from beer at the base and from baijiu at the top: use mass-market products to widen the drinking base, then use premium products to lift profit. It listed out-of-province repurchase rates, offline sell-through, restaurant penetration and instant-retail performance as the indicators to watch. [ 1 ]
Why it matters
The choice decides how the industry tries to grow: by adding drinkers outside its home region, or mainly by selling more expensive bottles to the drinkers it already has. The articles note that national expansion has only just begun, and that out-of-region sales remain small in absolute terms, so the industry's scale has not grown along with recent attention from investors and distributors.
Key facts
- Above-scale huangjiu makers fell from 121 in 2017 to 76 in 2025, and in 2025 industry sales revenue and profit fell 4.8% and 4.9% respectively, the articles reported. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Combined revenue of Kuaijishan, Guyuelongshan and Jinfeng rose from about 3.476 billion yuan in 2021 to 4.181 billion yuan in 2025, roughly 20% growth over four years. [ 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's revenue rose from 1.25 billion to 1.822 billion yuan and Guyuelongshan's from 1.577 billion to 1.831 billion yuan, while Jinfeng's fell from 649 million to 528 million yuan. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's mid-to-high-end liquor had a gross margin of 67.33% in 2025, compared with 42.25% for ordinary huangjiu and other liquor, a gap of more than 25 percentage points. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Guyuelongshan's “Wugaodi”, priced at 25-50 yuan, passed 5 million bottles sold in two years, with more than 60% of sales outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai and more than 30% of consumers under 35. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's “Shuangjiu” grew into a product with 100-million-yuan-scale sales. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's sales expense ratio rose from 14.7% to 26%, and its advertising and promotion spending from 81 million yuan to 267 million yuan. [ 1 ]
- In the first half of 2026, Kuaijishan's revenue outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai rose 76.59% year on year, to 134 million yuan. [ 2 , 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Above-scale huangjiu companies fell from 121 in 2017 to 76 in 2025, and in 2025 the industry's sales revenue and profit declined by 4.8% and 4.9% respectively. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's mid-to-high-end liquor had a 2025 gross margin of 67.33%, against 42.25% for ordinary huangjiu and other liquor. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Guyuelongshan's “Wugaodi”, priced at 25-50 yuan, sold more than 5 million bottles in two years, with over 60% of sales outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai and more than 30% of consumers under 35. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Between 2021 and 2025, Kuaijishan's revenue rose from 1.25 billion to 1.822 billion yuan and Guyuelongshan's from 1.577 billion to 1.831 billion yuan, while Jinfeng's fell from 649 million to 528 million yuan. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's “Shuangjiu” grew into a product with 100-million-yuan-scale sales. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Kuaijishan's revenue outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai rose 76.59% year on year in the first half of 2026, to 134 million yuan. [ 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Which expansion route the industry will take, and whether consumers outside Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai will accept high-priced huangjiu. The articles present the choice as an open question and say what is missing is a shared occasion for drinking huangjiu outside its home region; they give no forecast.
- The starting sales level of Kuaijishan's “Shuangjiu” before it reached 100-million-yuan scale. Huxiu describes growth from million-yuan-level sales, while TMTPost and Jiemian say several million yuan; the documents do not resolve the difference.
- Who produced the analysis and whether it is original reporting by each outlet. Huxiu, TMTPost and Jiemian published the same article text and headline, so most figures trace to one piece of reporting; the documents do not say who wrote or first published it.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Huxiu publishes the analysis of huangjiu's two nationalization routes, including company margins and sales-expense data. [ 1 ]
- TMTPost publishes the same analysis, setting out the consumer-number, frequency and spend-per-occasion framework. [ 2 ]
- Jiemian publishes the same analysis, including the industry consolidation figures and company revenue changes. [ 3 ]