Kweichow Moutai is the world's most valuable spirits company and a state-owned giant. It produces baijiu, a fiery sorghum-based liquor that is China's preferred tipple. The baijiu market exceeds $100bn in annual sales. Mao Zedong was a fan: though he promoted wine drinking for the masses, he personally preferred Moutai. The company has attempted to broaden its appeal to younger consumers by launching baijiu-flavoured ice cream, coffee and chocolates in partnership with other Chinese brands.
Moutai sets a benchmark retail price of 1,499 yuan ($212) per bottle and rules over the baijiu industry like a quasi-regulator, conducting spot investigations at vendors to ensure they comply with its pricing recommendations. To combat hoarding, customers may buy only one or two bottles a day. Bottles have often sold for 3,000 yuan apiece; older vintages have fetched more than 500,000 yuan at auction. Bribes in China are sometimes passed in baijiu instead of cash, making the drink a currency for corruption.
Moutai briefly became China's most valuable listed firm during the covid-19 pandemic, when prices surged and the country binged on the drink. By late 2025 it was worth about half its 2021 peak. An economic slowdown forced smaller companies to cut back on wining and dining clients, and in May 2025 a central-government edict banned smoking and boozing at state banquets. Young Chinese have been swapping baijiu for lighter, fruitier drinks. Thousands of distributors across the country were left with mounting stocks.
In late 2025 rogue vendors on Douyin, ByteDance's social-media and e-commerce platform, began selling Moutai's flagship bottle at a 100-yuan discount, breaking ranks with the company's pricing strategy. Moutai and Wuliangye, another leading baijiu brand, launched an "anti-involution campaign", calling on fellow producers to avoid excessive price competition. Moutai also established a direct sales channel on Douyin—its first—to keep some control over prices.
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