On April 17th, the fifth (expanded) meeting of the fifth council of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association was held at the Friendship Hotel in Beijing. At the meeting, Wang Yancai, Chairman of the China Liquor Industry Association, delivered a work report on behalf of the fifth council, reviewing the development of China's liquor industry in 2016 and releasing relevant data on the industry in 2016.

Regarding the development trend of China's liquor industry in 2016, Wang Yancai stated that the key to industry adjustment lies in industrial transformation, and the key to industrial transformation lies in quality and characteristics. The realization of quality and characteristics requires promoting the transformation of traditional brewing to smart and intelligent brewing. With the shift from traditional consumption to healthy and rational consumption, it has also pushed the quality and characteristics to a new level.

In addition, key backbone enterprises focus on exploring domestic and international markets. At the same time, Wang Yancai also proposed that the development of China's liquor industry should focus on creating an international blue ocean, creating a new consumer culture, deepening and improving new marketing models, and creating smart new brewing.

According to data released by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, from January to December 2016, enterprises above designated size in the national brewing industry completed a total brewing output of 72.263 million kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 0.75%. Among them, the production of alcoholic beverages is 6274 200000 kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 0.81%; The fermentation alcohol production was 9.521 million kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 0.41%.

There are a total of 2742 large-scale enterprises in the national brewing industry that have summarized their main economic benefits, with a cumulative sales revenue of 978.063 billion yuan, an increase of 6.27% compared to the same period last year, and a cumulative total profit of 109.447 billion yuan, an increase of 7% compared to the same period last year 22%.

Baijiu industry: There are 1578 Baijiu enterprises above designated size, with a cumulative output of 13583600 kiloliters, and a cumulative sales revenue of 612.574 billion yuan, up 10.07% year on year; The cumulative total profit reached 79.715 billion yuan, an increase of 9.24% compared to the same period last year.

Beer industry: There are 468 large-scale beer enterprises with a cumulative output of 45.0644 million kiloliters and a cumulative sales revenue of 183.269 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.29% compared to the same period last year; The cumulative total profit reached 15.076 billion yuan, an increase of 5.70% compared to the same period last year.

Wine industry: There are 240 large-scale wine enterprises with a cumulative output of 1.1374 million kiloliters and a cumulative sales revenue of 48.454 billion yuan, an increase of 3.97% compared to the same period last year; The cumulative total profit reached 4.87 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.59% compared to the same period last year.

Huangjiu industry: There are 112 large-scale Huangjiu production enterprises, with a cumulative sales revenue of 19.823 billion yuan, an increase of 8.96% compared to the same period last year; The cumulative total profit reached 1.86 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.54% compared to the same period last year.

Other liquor industries: There are 215 other liquor production enterprises above designated size, with a cumulative sales revenue of 35.79 billion yuan, an increase of 7.86% compared to the same period last year; The total accumulated profit reached 4.125 billion yuan, a decrease of 8.16% compared to the same period last year.

Regarding this, Wang Yancai believes that after several years of deep adjustment and pain relief, the brewing industry stabilized and performed well in 2016 after the deep adjustment, which is a set tone. Last year, the overall growth rate of the whole industry was 6.27%. Except for beer and alcohol, the growth rate of Baijiu, yellow rice wine and other wines rebounded significantly. Baijiu is particularly prominent. It is the first time to achieve double-digit growth after the end of the "Golden Decade". Compared with the growth rate of 5.22% in the same period in 2015, it basically doubled the growth rate.

The "price rise tide" that has lasted from 2016 to now should be an important manifestation of the improvement of the situation in the Baijiu industry. Huangjiu also performed outstandingly, boosting industry morale with a growth rate of 8.96% in 2016; Although the growth rate of the wine industry has slowed down, its sales revenue still increased by 2.2 billion yuan compared to 2015.

The total output of brewing has increased, and the overall economic benefits have improved. The pace of entrepreneurship in product channels, commercial scale, and models has accelerated, and the market has further stabilized; The demand for alcohol consumption in 2016 is becoming increasingly rational, personalized, and diversified. The brewing industry continues to maintain a new normal, with continuous adjustments to the industry and product structure. The price range of alcohol products is adjusted to adapt to the market and economic environment, and the transformation of the circulation system continues. The trend of diversified consumption is constantly upgrading. But now the downstream demand is declining, which means that the industry is facing comprehensive difficulties. Therefore, in one sentence, it can be summarized as "the overall economic benefits of the beverage and liquor industry are stable, showing a weak recovery." In his view, the current weak recovery is based on the overall weakness of the industry in the past two years, and the digital recovery is only a comparison with the previous year. If we look at it from a historical perspective, the current recovery is far from the double-digit growth of the past; The second is to rely on the strong driving force of some excellent enterprises such as Maotai. Therefore, Baijiu enterprises still need to work hard on the scientific establishment of the product price system, open the pricing range, occupy the market by low-end products, and create profits by middle and high-end products.

At the same time, Wang Yancai also stressed that although the industry statistics are optimistic and the relative price of Baijiu has rebounded in a large area, the loss of enterprises above the designated size in the whole industry was 11.82%, up from 11.12% in 2015. In terms of losses, except for Baijiu, beer and alcohol, wine, yellow rice wine and other liquors are increasing, indicating that the market competition is fierce and the industrial pattern of survival of the fittest is gradually accelerating.

In addition, two notices were announced at the meeting regarding the establishment of the Strategic Development Research Institute of the China Liquor Industry Association and the establishment of the Qin Hanzhang Fund. It is reported that the establishment of the "China Alcoholic Drinks Association Strategic Development Research Institute" aims to provide a think tank for the development of China's alcoholic beverage industry through research on corporate strategy, regional strategy, industry development strategy, industrial strategy, and innovation strategy.

We will focus on the major, cutting-edge, and difficult issues that arise in the development of the alcohol industry, fully integrate resources within the alcohol industry, actively expand and develop relevant national ministries, universities, research institutes, foreign experts, and social resources, and build the Strategic Development Research Institute into a training base for cultivating high-end strategic development talents in the alcohol industry.

The establishment of the "Qin Hanzhang Fund" is dedicated to promoting technological progress and the construction of a high-level talent team in China's brewing industry. The goal is to establish the highest science and technology award in the Chinese liquor industry that is higher than the national award, cultivate and support key science and technology projects in the industry to compete for the National Science and Technology Award, and recognize scientific research achievements that have won the National Science and Technology Award.