Topic

Baijiui

Baijiu is a liquor (the word means white liquor) distilled in China that is sought after for official banquets and for gifts. Kweichow Moutai is probably the best known baijiu. Sales of the potent white spirit have risen in recent years, powered by a boom in the luxury market in China.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

According to data from International Wine & Spirit Research, mainlanders drank more than 11 billion litres of baijiu last year, and the spirit, distilled from sorghum, wheat or rice, accounted for more than one-third of all spirits consumed in the world.

The two firms admitted on their official websites earlier that they had violated antimonopoly laws by charging penalties to distributors who sold their baijiu alcohol products at lower prices than the producers had required.

Baijiu, particularly the more expensive brands, was not in great demand this festive season as a result of the central government's crackdown on extravagance ahead of the Lunar New Year, said Liu Yuan, the secretary-general of the China National Association for Liquor and Spirits Circulation. As a result, liquor retailers were heavily discounting their stock.