Economic Observer reporter Zheng Yuxin, intern Fan Xingqi

The pattern of China's beer industry has once again changed. In the first half of 2026, Yanjing Beer (000729. SZ) will surpass Chongqing Beer (600132. SH) in both revenue and net profit, ranking fourth in the Chinese beer industry; In the same period of 2025, Chongqing Beer's revenue is still higher than Yanjing Beer.

On August 20th, Yanjing Beer released its semi annual report showing that it achieved a revenue of 9.031 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 5.53%; After deducting non recurring expenses, the net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.38 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.16%.

Chongqing Beer submitted a "double reduction" report card on August 19th. In the first half of 2026, Chongqing Beer's revenue was 8.576 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.98%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 796 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7.98%, and the decline further expanded compared to the same period last year.

Liquor industry analyst Cai Xuefei said that Yanjing Beer's overtaking of Chongqing Beer is not only a change in revenue ranking, but also a positive competition between two sets of competitive strategies during the beer stock competition period. Yanjing Beer relies on the super large product U8, with a price range of 6-8 yuan for "light high-end", and a clear logic of stable quantity and price increase. On the other hand, in Chongqing beer, Wusu entered the stage of maintaining stock from running a horse race enclosure, and the spillover effect of internet celebrities began to decline; The high-end market above 8 yuan is being squeezed by brands such as Budweiser, Tsingtao Beer, and China Resources, while the mainstream price range of 4-8 yuan is being continuously squeezed by U8; At the same time, the slow recovery of drinking channels in the central markets such as Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guizhou, coupled with the close competition for offline terminal sales between Chongqing Beer, China Resources Beer, and Qingdao Beer, as well as factors such as the final payment of Jiawei's underwriting disputes and the high sales expense rate, have collectively led to performance difficulties last year and the first half of this year.

Strive for the fourth year

From the perspective of the Chinese beer industry landscape, China Resources Beer, Budweiser Asia Pacific, and Tsingtao Beer have consistently ranked among the top three in the industry in recent years due to their scale advantages, forming a relatively stable first tier. After the top three, Yanjing Beer and Chongqing Beer have been competing for the fourth place in the industry for a long time.

In the past few years, Chongqing Beer has rapidly expanded relying on the Carlsberg system and brands such as Wusu, and once led Yanjing Beer in terms of revenue scale; Yanjing Beer has improved its profitability by promoting product structure upgrades and cultivating major products.

In the first half of 2025, Yanjing Beer achieved a revenue of 8.558 billion yuan, slightly lower than Chongqing Beer's 8.839 billion yuan, but with a higher net profit than Chongqing Beer. By the end of 2025, this trend will reverse and Yanjing Beer will achieve a revenue of 15.333 billion yuan for the whole year, surpassing Chongqing Beer's 14.722 billion yuan. In the first half of 2026, Yanjing Beer's revenue exceeded Chongqing Beer's by 455 million yuan.

However, in terms of sales, Yanjing Beer is much higher than Chongqing Beer.

Chongqing Beer sold a total of 1.7492 million liters of beer in the first half of the year, a decrease of about 2.9% compared to the same period last year. In the first half of 2025, its sales continued to grow slightly, but this year it has turned into a decline. This is also the first time that Chongqing Beer has experienced a decline in sales in the first half of the year since its restructuring in 2020.

In contrast, Yanjing Beer's beer sales in the first half of the year reached 2.4269 million kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. Among them, the core single product Yanjing U8 has accumulated sales of 614100 kiloliters, an increase of 125800 kiloliters year-on-year, maintaining a growth trend of over 25%. Yanjing A10, V10 craft white beer, refreshing, fresh beer series and other products have also achieved steady growth.

Mid to high end products rise and fall

From the perspective of product structure, mid to high end products have dragged down the performance of Chongqing Beer; The growth of Yanjing Beer mainly comes from mid to high end products.

In the first half of the year, Chongqing Beer only achieved growth in products priced below 4 yuan.

From the perspective of product types, Chongqing Beer divides its products into three categories: high-end, mainstream, and economical. Among them, the revenue from high-end products priced at 8 yuan or above was 5.185 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.53%; The mainstream product revenue ranging from 4 yuan to 8 yuan was 2.966 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.69%.

High end and mainstream products together account for approximately 97.6% of Chongqing Beer's main business revenue, making them the main source of income for Chongqing Beer. The simultaneous decline of these two types of products has had a significant impact on the overall performance of Chongqing Beer. In contrast, the revenue of economic products priced below 4 yuan increased by 3.17%, but their revenue was only 202 million yuan, which is relatively small in scale and difficult to offset the decline of the first two types of products.

Chongqing Beer stated in its semi annual report that the current Chinese beer industry continues to exhibit characteristics of stock competition, with further differentiation of consumer demand and changes in channel structure and consumption scenarios. Consumers no longer only focus on brand and price, but also place greater emphasis on product taste, drinking experience, and purchasing convenience.

Yanjing Beer divides its beer products into mid to high end products and ordinary products based on factory prices in its semi annual report. Among them, mid to high end products achieved a revenue of 5.898 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 6.54%, accounting for 70.85% of the main business revenue; The operating revenue of ordinary products reached 2.426 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%. The gross profit margin of mid to high end products reached 56.3%, an increase of 4.59 percentage points year-on-year.

The mid to high end products of Yanjing Beer are mainly driven by the core single product Yanjing U8, with a cumulative sales volume of 614100 kiloliters, an increase of 125800 kiloliters compared to the same period last year, continuing to maintain a strong growth trend of over 25%.

Yanjing U8 was launched in 2019. In the early stages of its listing, Yanjing Beer quickly established a foothold in the fiercely competitive mainstream price range through meticulous cultivation and digital marketing methods focused on catering channels; In the following years, relying on sustained brand awareness and nationwide distribution strategies, U8 gradually grew from a regional bestseller to a national strategic single product, with sales maintaining high double-digit growth year after year.

In March 2026, Yanjing Beer launched Yanjing A10, priced higher than Yanjing U8, to meet the consumption upgrade needs of Yanjing U8 users and further open up long-term profit growth space.

Different channel strategies

The different channel strategies of the two have led to regional market differentiation.

From a regional perspective, the main business revenue of Chongqing Beer in the northwest region increased slightly by 0.68% year-on-year, while the southern region decreased by 0.27%, and the central region decreased by 7.48% to 3.268 billion yuan, with the most significant decline.

The core market of Yanjing Beer remains the northern region centered around Beijing, achieving a revenue of 5.76 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 3.61%, accounting for 63.77% of Yanjing Beer's revenue; The southern region achieved a revenue of 2.417 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.72%; The central region achieved a revenue of 855 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.15%, with the fastest growth rate.

According to Xiao Zhuqing, a marketing expert in the liquor industry, Yanjing Beer's main market was mainly in Beijing when U8 was not a major product. With the help of U8 product, we have achieved growth beyond the industry average in Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Sichuan and other provinces in the past two years. This growth is based on seizing market share and consumer scenarios of other beer brands.

Xiao Zhuqing pointed out that Yanjing Beer adopts a differentiation strategy in regional expansion: it prioritizes entering provincial markets monopolized by a single brand, which have lower competition costs; And avoid high-intensity competition areas with two or three strong competitors, as the latter involves high terminal costs such as buying stores, specialized sales, and channel rewards. This layout effectively controls channel and terminal costs. At the same time, Yanjing Beer attaches great importance to consumer cultivation and accurately reaches young people through concerts, youth interactive activities, and social media seeding.

Cai Xuefei believes that Wusu has quickly gained popularity through the internet famous meme "Deadly Wusu", as well as social consumption scenes such as nightclubs and barbecues. However, its strong and high alcohol content is not a must-have for daily meals. Therefore, after the flow dividend recedes, the product repurchase rate is difficult to maintain. At the same time, brands such as 1664 and Carlsberg are highly tied to catering and nightclubs in terms of channels, while the current recovery of the ready to drink channel is weak, and the number of business banquet scenes is also decreasing. These factors directly drag down performance.

Faced with market changes, Chongqing Beer is trying to find breakthroughs from both product and scene perspectives. In the first half of the year, brands such as Carlsberg, Leburg, Wusu, and Chongqing launched 1-liter craft beer, white beer, and fruit flavored beer to meet the different needs of family gatherings, friend dinners, and young consumers, covering more consumption scenarios.

Wusu Beer is still developing the "beer+catering" model. As of the end of June, "Da Wusu Xiao Barbecue" has entered more than 60 cities across the country, with over 130 stores. Chongqing Beer hopes to allow consumers to experience and interact with its products in specific scenarios through its food and beverage stores.

However, launching new products and conducting marketing activities require investment. In the first half of the year, the sales expenses of Chongqing Beer reached 1.403 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.23%. At the same time as the decline in operating revenue, sales expenses have increased, which has put some pressure on profits.

From the comparison of market value, on August 21st, the market value of Yanjing Beer was 32.2 billion yuan, approximately equivalent to the market value of 1.65 Chongqing beers.

On August 21st, the stock prices of Yanjing Beer and Chongqing Beer both fell. Yanjing Beer's stock price was 11.41 yuan/share, down 6.93%; The stock price of Chongqing Beer was 40.28 yuan per share, down 2.11%.

(Author Zheng Yuxin)