Economic Observer reporter Zheng Yuxin, intern Fan Xingqi

The 'Yellow Wine Brother' has been replaced.

In the first half of 2026, Kuaijishan (601579. SH) achieved a revenue of 853 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.43%; Guyue Longshan (600059. SH) achieved a revenue of 787 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.89%. Kuaijishan leads by about 65.94 million yuan, marking the first time since its listing in 2014 that Kuaijishan has surpassed Guyue Longshan in terms of semi annual revenue scale.

Six months ago, the 2025 annual report showed that Guyue Longshan achieved a revenue of 1.831 billion yuan, while Kuaiji Mountain achieved a revenue of 1.822 billion yuan, with a difference of only 8.82 million yuan. Guyue Longshan held the top spot in the industry with a slight advantage.

The profit gap is even more pronounced. Kuaiji Mountain had a net profit attributable to its parent company of 129 million yuan in the first half of the year, while Guyue Longshan had a net profit of 92 million yuan. After deducting non recurring factors such as investment income and asset disposal, the non recurring net profits of the two companies were 104 million yuan and 53 million yuan, respectively, with Kuaiji Mountain approaching twice that of Guyue Longshan.

Xiao Zhuqing, a marketing expert in the liquor industry, said that in this battle for the title of "Yellow Wine Brother", Kuaiji Mountain has achieved a temporary victory. The performance differentiation between the two leading companies, with one increase and one decrease, is not simply the result of individual wins or losses, but rather the collision of two completely different business strategies.

The 'Yellow Wine Brother' has been competing for many years

In terms of revenue, Kuaiji Mountain has surpassed Gu Yue Long Mountain this time.

In the past, Guyue Longshan has long held the top position among listed companies in Huangjiu. Gu Yue Longshan maintains a leading position in terms of scale with stronger brand accumulation, a more complete product matrix, and an earlier nationwide distribution network.

The gap between the two companies has rapidly narrowed in recent years. In 2023, the revenue of Guyue Longshan was 1.784 billion yuan, while Kuaiji Mountain was 1.411 billion yuan, with the former leading by about 372 million yuan. In 2024, the revenue of Guyue Longshan increased to 1.936 billion yuan, while Kuaiji Mountain reached 1.631 billion yuan, narrowing the gap to about 305 million yuan. In 2025, the revenue of Guyue Longshan decreased by 5.45%, while Kuaiji Mountain increased by 11.68%. The gap between the two companies suddenly narrowed from hundreds of millions of yuan to less than ten million yuan.

In the first half of 2026, the revenue of Guyue Longshan continued to decline, while the revenue of Kuaiji Mountain increased, ultimately driving a change in industry ranking.

Xiao Zhuqing believes that Kuaiji Mountain's achievement of overtaking is achieved by concentrating resources on the basic markets of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, and further exploring mature markets through deep distribution, terminal display, banquets, and tasting scenes; On the other hand, relying on youth oriented products such as Shuangjiu, and cooperating with online communication, offline activities, and celebrity marketing to find new increments. Guyue Longshan is in a period of strategic adjustment, while shrinking some low gross profit ordinary liquor products and focusing on high-end and national development. However, the increase brought by the external market is not enough to offset the decline of the traditional markets in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.

Beyond The Back

Huangjiu enterprises are facing a practical problem: relying solely on low-priced ordinary Huangjiu makes it difficult to open up new growth opportunities. Therefore, both Kuaiji Mountain and Guyue Longshan are doing two things: pushing their products towards the high-end, increasing prices and brand image; Launch lighter tasting and updated packaging products to attract young consumers.

In the first half of 2026, the sales revenue of high-end Huangjiu in Kuaiji Mountain reached 595 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.17%, accounting for about 80% of the Huangjiu revenue. Kuaiji Mountain regards the "Lanting" series as an important lever for high-end development, attempting to enter high-end catering, business banquets, and cultural tasting scenes; At the same time, we will launch youthful products such as refreshing wine and self fermented sparkling yellow wine, and reach young consumers through e-commerce, short videos, and social platforms.

Guyue Longshan also regards mid to high end products as its basic base. In the first half of 2026, the sales revenue of high-end liquor in Guyue Longshan reached 560 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.92%. The proportion of high-end liquor in the liquor revenue exceeded 70%. Although the overall sales of high-end products in Guyue Longshan have declined, the sales of higher positioned series such as "National Brewing" and "Blue and White Drunken" have increased by 9.81% year-on-year, with the "Blue and White Drunken" series growing by 35.17%.

Cai Xuefei, an analyst in the Baijiu industry, believes that Kuaiji Mountain has made efforts to make the main line of products clearer through high-end products and young products at the same time; Although Guyue Longshan has a strong brand foundation and high vintage raw wine resources, it still mainly relies on a few high-end series for growth, and new products have not yet formed a scale that can drive overall performance.

However, the marketing investment in Kuaiji Mountain is higher.

In the first half of 2026, the sales expenses of Kuaiji Mountain reached 236 million yuan, with a sales expense ratio of about 27.7%, and its sales expenses were close to 1.8 times that of Guyue Longshan. Among them, the advertising and promotional expenses of Kuaijishan are about 132 million yuan, which is about 6.6 times the advertising and business promotion expenses of Guyue Longshan.

Xiao Zhuqing believes that the current growth of Kuaiji Mountain has certain cost driven characteristics, which attract consumers to try it out for the first time through advertising, terminal subsidies, and scenario activities. High investment can be a temporary breakthrough, but it cannot be a long-term development logic. Only by transforming "tasting consumers" into long-term re purchase users and marketing investment into brand awareness can this model be sustainable.

Leaving Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai

Compared to high-end, going out of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai is a more difficult problem for Huangjiu enterprises to solve.

For a long time, the consumption of Huangjiu has been concentrated in traditional markets such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. Leaving Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, many consumers still associate Huangjiu with cooking wine and lack daily drinking habits. Therefore, nationalization not only means spreading products to more cities, but also requires re cultivating consumer awareness, drinking scenarios, and channel networks.

In terms of nationwide layout, Guyue Longshan has gone further. According to the financial report, its revenue from markets outside of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai has exceeded 40%. In the first half of 2026, it added 102 new distributors and continued to expand into markets in Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Henan, Northwest, Guangzhou Shenzhen, and Southwest.

In contrast, sales in Kuaiji Mountain are still highly concentrated in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. In the first half of 2026, the proportion of revenue from markets outside of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai will be less than 30%.

Xiao Zhuqing believes that the market for Huangjiu outside the province has a small plate size, scattered channels, and high operating costs. It is a business of "long-term sowing and slow harvesting", and it is difficult to contribute large-scale income and profits in the short term. If Kuaiji Mountain wants to catch up with the provincial layout of Guyue Longshan, it also needs to face the dual obstacles of consumer awareness and channel capability. The attention that Shuangjiu and other products have gained online does not necessarily mean that they have entered the daily dining and gathering scenes of out of town consumers. How to convert live streaming traffic into offline bottle opening rate may be more important than how many new distributors are added.

In the past few years, the yellow wine industry has changed its previous stagnant situation of hovering around 20 billion yuan and entered a recovery channel of "simultaneous increase in quantity and price, and enhanced concentration". According to data from the China Liquor Industry Association, in 2024, nearly 800 yellow wine production enterprises in China achieved a revenue of 20 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.26%, and a production of about 4 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. The industry has maintained positive growth for three consecutive years; In 2025, the revenue will further increase to about 21 billion yuan, maintaining a growth rate of over 5%.

Both experts pointed out that the two top companies should continuously innovate and improve their products to raise the industry ceiling and gain greater growth potential.

(Author Zheng Yuxin)