Five-year profit soars by 200%, liqueur rises to prominence: 18-yuan products take the center stage at the Sugar and Wine Fair, and listed pharmaceutical companies are also entering the alcohol market.

Source: Time Weekly; Author: Xing Wenwen

On March 28, the Chengdu Spring China Sugar and Wine Fair (Chunjiu) officially wrapped up.

Unlike the golden exhibition booths packed with well-known liquor brands and dominated by “development liquor” products in previous years, against the backdrop of the baijiu industry entering an adjustment cycle, alcoholic liqueurs (lujiu) and health-preserving liquors have jumped from fringe categories to become one of the main highlights of this year’s exhibition.

It is worth noting that for the first time, this year’s Sugar and Wine Fair set up a “Yellow Wine and Health-Preserving Liquor Zone.” In addition to liquor companies such as Gujing Gongjiu (000596.SZ) and Guyue Longshan (600059.SH), pharmaceutical companies including Beijing Tongrentang, Dong’e Ejiao, and Hunan-based Kaigna Pharmaceutical have also entered the hot alcoholic liqueur track from other industries. Specialty blends and small ice-drink bar-style counters have even become standard setups for participating brands.

Data shows that the alcoholic liqueur track experienced a countercyclical surge in the past five years, with profit growth of nearly 200%. Behind this is a shift in demand at the consumer end toward health-focused and lower-alcohol options.

Development liquors exit; alcoholic liqueurs move up

The Spring China Sugar and Wine Fair has long been seen as the most direct barometer of trends in the alcohol beverage industry. This year’s fair, for the first time, established a “Yellow Wine and Health-Preserving Liquor Zone,” and the popularity of health-preserving liquors has clearly increased.

Within the exhibition halls, booths such as those for Jin牌 and Hainan Yedao are crowded with business representatives coming to inquire. Jin牌 continues last year’s approach, setting up on-site cocktail-and-drink tasting areas such as “Jin牌 liquor + fruit juice” and “Jin牌 liquor + milk.”

Beyond the above-mentioned regular health-preserving liquor customers, even Guyue Longshan—whose bubble yellow wine last year helped it break out into broader recognition—has also entered the track with four new herbal liqueur products, including Herbal No. 1 (tangerine peel lujiu) and Herbal No. 2 (fòushǒu lujiu), further strengthening the lineup in the category.

Meanwhile, at the hotel exhibition earlier on, a reporter from Time Weekly found that last year’s clutter of miscellaneous-brand liquor and the sharp retreat of development liquors left alcoholic liqueur new products to become the “main force.”

In key exhibition venues such as the Jinjiang Hotel and the Dasheng Hotel, multiple alcoholic liqueur products—including herbal liqueur, ginseng wine, and sānbiān wine—were collectively “on stage.” Their alcohol content is mostly 35% and 53%, with most products launched from late last year to early this year.

Among them, Guobao Liquor Industry, based in Moutai Town, spent several hundred thousand yuan to secure a booth on the right side of the east entrance of the Jinjiang Hotel, and its flagship is Guixuan herbal baijiu.

                      Guobao Liquor Industry herbal baijiu. Photo by Time Weekly reporter           

In 2016, Guobao Liquor Industry and Jin牌 reached a strategic cooperation. According to sources in the business, this herbal baijiu uses the company’s own sauce-flavor liquor aged 5 years and 7+ years as the base liquor; Jin牌 provides R&D technology. After five years of development, it was launched to the market in September last year. The suggested retail price at terminals is 199 yuan per bottle and 399 yuan per bottle.

The above sources said that this year, the company may launch smaller-sized herbal “clear bottles” (50ml and 100ml) to capture more young consumers’ drinking demand.

With support from the industrial advantage of “China’s Capital of Chinese Medicine” in Bozhou, Gujing Gongjiu this year also set aside a display area specifically for its new lujiu product “Shenli Liquor,” and promoted the slogan “The Medicine Capital produces good liquor; with good liquor, Shenli Liquor.” The product is 35% alcohol, with three sizes: 125ml, 260ml, and 520ml. The suggested retail prices are 18 yuan, 35 yuan, and 60 yuan respectively—similar to Jin牌’s products in the same sizes.

                      Gujing Gongjiu “Shenli Liquor.” Photo by Time Weekly reporter           

Under deep industry overcompetition in baijiu, distributors have tried to use alcoholic liqueurs and health-preserving liquors as new growth drivers.

A distributor from Jining, Shandong, who came to inquire about “Shenli Liquor,” told the reporter that in the past two years, distribution and sales pressure for baijiu has increased noticeably. Stores need to bring in new products. “For a product like this—with health-preserving concepts and a relatively low price—the cost of trial and error is lower.”

Industry insiders with nearly 30 years of experience also observed a similar trend. They believe that as the popularity of sauce-flavor baijiu cools down, consumption demand is changing; health-preserving liquors and alcoholic liqueurs are gradually becoming new areas of attention. “Now young consumers care more about products with a lighter sense of burden, and this kind of liquor is easier to be accepted.”

Many distributors said that as the popularity of sauce-flavor baijiu cools, consumers’ health awareness continues to rise, and end-market acceptance of health-preserving liquors and alcoholic liqueurs keeps increasing—making it a window of opportunity for the industry in the next 3 to 5 years. This also makes alcoholic liqueurs the hottest track at this year’s Spring China Sugar and Wine Fair for the sponsorship and recruitment side.

According to the China Alcoholic Drinks Association’s definition, alcoholic liqueurs are made by using yellow wine or baijiu as the base, adding ingredients that come from the same source as medicine and food or specific auxiliary food ingredients, and then producing the drink through processes such as extraction and fractional distillation/repeated distillation, without adding food additives. Compared with traditional high-alcohol liquor, they have greater room for extension in terms of flavor and drinking methods, and are more easily accepted in scenarios such as mixed-drink preparation and ice-drink consumption.

The reporter noticed that many booths set up simple mixing stations in advance, pairing the products with fruit juice and sparkling water to create a lighter drinking experience, attracting exhibitors to stop and talk.

Jin牌 holds the top spot, and listed pharmaceutical companies also come to sell liquor

In addition to big-name liquor companies, even pharmaceutical companies have stepped onto the same stage to compete.

The reporter noticed that listed pharmaceutical firms such as Beijing Tongrentang (600085.SH), Dong’e Ejiao (000423.SZ), and Khingna Pharmaceutical (002737.SZ) have leveraged their advantages in “medicine-and-food homology” and have launched alcoholic liqueurs across industries one after another.

Beijing Tongrentang first brought its full range of alcoholic liqueur products to the first-floor exhibition hall of the Jinjiang Hotel, focusing on “Vigor Liquor,” which was launched in June last year. This product uses aroma-flavor baijiu as the base liquor and adds medicine-and-food homology ingredients such as tangerine peel, ginseng, and polygonatum.

According to materials, the producer of “Vigor Liquor” is Tongrentang’s controlling subsidiary, Beijing Tongrentang (Hubei) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The company currently has three alcoholic liqueur production lines, and it will also invest 120 million yuan to build two medicine-liquor production lines as well as supporting facilities such as medicine-liquor decoction/extraction workshops. Once the project is completed, it can produce 6,000 tons of medicinal liquor and 1,000 tons of alcoholic liqueur each year.

Business representatives who came to consult about Tongrentang’s Vigor Liquor said they hope the company will increase promotion efforts and lay out more channels such as convenience stores, supermarkets, and restaurants.

Meanwhile, Shanxi Zhendong Wuhe Yi-Yangtang Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Wuhe Yi-Yangtang”) brought several health-preserving liquor products for exhibition. At the entrance of the booth, it set up a trend-drink zone, where multiple health-preserving trend drinks such as “Shānjiāng Lovers” and “Drunken Dream Star River” attracted a large number of business visitors to stop and watch.

                      Wuhe health-preserving liquor trend-drink zone. Photo by Time Weekly reporter           

A招商 representative from Wuhe Yi-Yangtang told the reporter directly that the company was established 30 years ago and has many products such as health foods and herbal teas, including well-selling items like Wu Hong Tang. But overall sales have not been warm or hot. In recent years, as the health-preserving liquor track has gained heat, many liquor companies have crossed over to make health-preserving liquors too. Also, because Jin牌 broke out last year, the exposure of the company’s health-preserving liquors has improved significantly, and sales in regions including Shanxi and Henan have been quite good.

Many participating representatives agree that Jin牌’s eye-catching market performance has driven this round of the alcoholic liqueur boom.

Data shows that in 2025, Jin牌’s overall performance grew 10.8%. The growth rate of its core brand Jin牌 liquor was about 25%. In addition, over the past two years it added around 9 million young users, validating the growth potential of the alcoholic liqueur track with results.

At the same time, data from the China Alcoholic Drinks Association also confirms the growth of this category. From 2020 to 2024, the industry’s profit in alcoholic liqueurs grew by nearly 200%; in 2025, sales still maintained countercyclical growth. During the baijiu industry’s overall adjustment period, alcoholic liqueurs became one of the few growth tracks in the alcohol beverage industry.

“Right now, Jin牌 has already secured first place, but the second-place player hasn’t really emerged yet.” Industry insiders judge that the alcoholic liqueur track is still in a stage where the market structure is not yet finalized. As cross-industry players enter, it is accelerating reshuffling in the industry.