Baijiu production per month in China 2021-2023

In December 2023, China produced around 549 thousand kiloliters of baijiu, increasing by four percent compared to the same period of the previous year. China's baijiu industry was negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Baijiu industry in China

Though the demand for whiskey and other spirits in China saw a rapid growth in past years, baijiu remained the most consumed spirit in China, taking up around 94 percent of liquor retail sales. Baijiu is considered the national spirit in China, made by fermenting cooked sorghum or sometimes other grains. More than half of the baijiu produced in China was from Sichuan province, where four out of 19 public listed baijiu manufacturers are located.

Kweichow Moutai

With its stock prices rocketing up by nearly 50 percent in 2020, China's high-end baijiu enterprise Kweichow Moutai ranked as the third-most valuable company in Asia, next to the tech giants Alibaba and Tencent. Consumers stock up baijiu from this prestigious alcohol brand not only for the purpose of enjoyment but also as an investment. A bottle of vintaged Moutai can go for as much as 10 million yuan in an auction.