What new story is behind the soy sauce bottle? What does the 2025 financial report of Haitan Flavoring and Food (603288.SH/03288.HK) reveal?

Currently, the valuation repair of the consumer sector is becoming a consensus among institutions. With policies such as expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption being intensified, consumption is expected to become an important driving force for the recovery of the Hong Kong and A-share markets.

Of course, differentiation remains the main theme of the industry; however, as a must-have consumer good, condiments have strong anti-cyclical properties, and the market feedback is much more positive.

For example, Haitian Flavoring and Food Co., Ltd.

Recently, Haitian released its 2025 financial report, showing that the company achieved an operating income of 28.873 billion yuan last year, with a year-on-year increase of 7.32%. Profitability has also improved, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 7.038 billion yuan, up 10.95% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 6.845 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.81%; the gross profit margin of the condiment main business was 41.78%, an increase of 3.15 percentage points year-on-year. All operating data reached historical highs.

Despite the positive performance, the current market trend has not fully shifted, so for those who truly understand Haitian, this moment may be the time to clear the fog and see the changes.

01

From the National Dining Table to Full-Scene Penetration, Product Matrix Builds Growth Base

For a company like Haitian, which has held the top position in the industry for over twenty years, it is easy to fall into the illusion that its growth relies solely on “living off past achievements.” However, if we break down its product landscape, we find that all of this company’s growth revolves around one core principle: we provide what users need.

By the end of 2025, Haitian has owned seven major product series with annual revenues exceeding 1 billion yuan, and over 30 product series exceeding 100 million yuan. Among them, Haitian soy sauce’s production and sales volume and market share have ranked first in the nation for decades, and Haitian oyster sauce has held the top market share for ten consecutive years, making it a truly national product beloved by consumers.

This set of data outlines not only the scale but also the foundational characteristics of Haitian as a “people’s livelihood product platform.” Classic products such as Jinbiao light soy sauce, dried mushroom dark soy sauce, Weijixian, Haitian premium oyster sauce, and Jinbiao oyster sauce have withstood the test of time not by chance, but because they have consistently maintained flavor stability over decades. For users, regardless of which city or channel they buy from, that bottle of Jinbiao light soy sauce always tastes the same. This certainty is the starting point of user trust.

It is worth noting that in 2025, soy sauce revenue reached 14.934 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.55%, continuing to perform well. Additionally, oyster sauce and seasoning sauces recorded revenues of 4.868 billion yuan and 2.917 billion yuan, with year-on-year increases of 5.48% and 9.29%, respectively. It can be seen that the three core categories of Haitian soy sauce, oyster sauce, and seasoning sauces are advancing together, further solidifying Haitian’s fundamental stability.

This growth is also a result of Haitian’s continuous innovation as a “versatile player,” and it essentially reflects its deep response to user needs. Soy sauce is the first in the industry to layout organic products, now covering a full line of health-oriented soy sauces including organic, low-salt, and iron-fortified options, each corresponding to the dietary needs of different groups. Oyster sauce has evolved beyond traditional fresh flavors, continuously launching new products like “spicy” oyster sauce and Matsutake fresh oyster sauce targeting young consumers’ new taste scenarios. Seasoning sauces have tapped into regional habits and the lazy economy: perilla sauce and Guilin-style chili sauce meet regional flavor preferences, while scallion oil noodle sauce caters to the demand for “convenient cooking.” Products like vinegar, cooking wine, and mixed seasonings provide a one-stop kitchen seasoning solution for all scenarios, such as vinegar also giving rise to unique fruit vinegar products like zero-sugar apple vinegar and raw orange vinegar, transitioning from back kitchens to light meal pairings.

In 2025, Haitian responded to consumers’ demands for green and healthy diets by launching over 1,000 new products in the trend of nutrition and health, with organic and low-salt products showing a sales growth rate of 48.3%, far exceeding the single-digit growth of traditional categories. It can be said that Haitian has already transcended being just a condiment brand, upgrading to a lifestyle brand.

Moreover, this product capability extension is not limited to home kitchens. Relying on the supply chain scale effect, technological research and development, and flexible production as its three core barriers, Haitian is accelerating its upgrade from “condiment supplier” to “one-stop flavor solution provider.” As of 2025, it has provided customized condiment services for many restaurant chains, food factories, and global leading retail brands, achieving an extension from “single condiment product sales” to “full-scene service from front kitchen to back kitchen.”

From the national dining table to the bottom kitchen, from classic major products to healthy new categories, Haitian is proving through its full-scene product matrix that the so-called growth base is not about how many bottles of soy sauce you sell, but how many scenarios you can address and how many real pain points you can solve for users.

02

When Traditional Brewing Meets Lighthouse Factory, Technology Builds “New Quality Productivity”

The traditional brewing industry has long faced a core contradiction, namely that the stability of quality highly depends on the personal experience of master brewers. The loss of experience means fluctuations in quality, and the industry seems to be capped under a “heavily reliant on weather and human control” glass ceiling.

How to break this? Haitian’s answer is to equip each master brewer with a “digital apprentice” that never goes offline, transforming centuries of brewing wisdom into replicable and iterative system capabilities, deeply applying AI and big data across the entire chain of research, production, supply, and sales.

In the raw material selection phase, the innovative “AI Bean Face Selection System” performs 360-degree visual inspection on over 2.5 trillion soybeans each year, capable of inspecting about 13,000 soybeans per second, thus safeguarding quality from the source; in the production and fermentation phase, the AI-based intelligent fermentation model precisely controls the fermentation process, real-time monitoring of weather, raw materials, and equipment status, and automatically calculating the optimal plan through AI algorithms to further enhance the utilization rate of soybean protein, stabilizing and optimizing product flavor and yield; in quality control and inspection, the “AI electronic nose” can identify over 100 types of aroma component information, converting the tasting experience of master brewers into precise data metrics.

This profound accumulation of “technology-driven enterprise” reached a milestone in January 2025 when the Haitian Gao Ming production base was included in the World Economic Forum’s “Lighthouse Factory” list, becoming the first company in the global soy sauce industry to receive this honor.

What lies behind this is also Haitian’s long-term strategic determination. Haitian insists on investing about 3% of its revenue in research and development every year. Continuous investment has ultimately led to significant efficiency leaps in operations.

At the supply chain end, digitization has significantly improved Haitian’s supply chain operational efficiency, with timely and complete order delivery rates continuously optimized. Through improvements such as yield enhancement and loss reduction, overall costs have steadily declined. Reflected in the financial report, in 2025, the proportion of manufacturing expenses and direct labor costs to operating costs, both core indicators, are better than most peers.

If “lighthouse factories” represent manufacturing height, then “flexible supply chains” represent Haitian’s breadth of market service ability. Today’s condiment market is increasingly diverse, shifting from “standardization” to “customization” has become inevitable, and Haitian vividly demonstrates this “quick response” capability in both To C and To B channels.

For end consumers, Haitian’s online business has made a leap from “existence” to “excellence.” In 2025, revenue from online channels saw a significant year-on-year increase of 31.87%. More interesting than the numbers is its response speed to market demands. By analyzing consumer data, Haitian actively captures differentiated demands from emerging channels and more specifically launches customized online products such as Haitian Zhen Niang and aromatic fresh oyster sauce, gradually building a healthy development model of mutual promotion between online and offline.

For B-end clients, technology is helping Haitian build a new paradigm of “customization-scale-quality-price ratio” collaborative development in manufacturing. For clients in the restaurant and food industry, Haitian has achieved efficient responses of “3 days for sampling and 15 days for delivery.” Whether it’s a small order of hundreds of thousands or collaborative development of exclusive flavors, Haitian can provide a full-link solution from formula debugging to mass production.

It can be said that digital intelligence is not a denial of tradition, but rather the realization of “new growth from old trees” through technological empowerment; flexible manufacturing is not a compromise on scale, but a new competitive advantage built in a fragmented market.

When a bottle of soy sauce carries the technological content of AI selection, intelligent fermentation, and flexible customization, and when even “small orders of hundreds of thousands” can be treated with the standards of a “lighthouse factory,” what Haitian is writing is not just a story of corporate transformation, but a vivid example of cultivating new quality productivity in China’s traditional industries.

03

From Value Consensus to Global Sharing, the Value Flywheel under the Dual Performance of ESG and Going Global

When a company reaches a certain scale, it will inevitably encounter a profound question: what is the ultimate purpose of your growth?

For Haitian, the 2025 financial report provides a clear answer, which is to build a win-win ecological circle of shared interests. It aims to ensure that the dividends of development flow not only into shareholders’ pockets but also benefit partners, society, and every ordinary family using its products.

Currently, the capital market is paying increasing attention to sustainable development, and Haitian’s ESG practices are becoming a value growth booster for the company.

On the production side, Haitian is actively building a green and recyclable production model. In 2025, it implemented 128 energy-saving and carbon reduction measures, reducing carbon emissions by 29,000 tons for the year; in terms of energy structure, over 28% of Haitian’s total electricity consumption comes from green power, with installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation increasing by nearly 100%, and biomass power generation projects also coming online, with the plant’s green power generation reaching 29 million kilowatt-hours; in terms of resource recycling, last year it recycled 1.88 million cubic meters of water resources, equivalent to the capacity of 752 standard swimming pools; the comprehensive utilization rate of waste has been maintained above 99% for many years, setting a new benchmark for resource recycling in the industry.

On the industrial chain side, the company partnered with 25 partners to initiate the first full-industry chain carbon reduction alliance in the condiment industry— the “Carbon Path Green Chain Alliance,” promoting carbon reduction actions across the entire chain from raw material procurement to logistics transportation, and constructing a collaborative carbon reduction green ecosystem.

In terms of public welfare, the “Little Pink Cap · Specially Adjusted for Love” public welfare plan deeply integrates product innovation with social responsibility. By 2025, this project has benefited 760,000 people in 28 counties across 16 provinces nationwide, most of whom are from previously state-designated poverty counties, effectively returning the fruits of enterprise development to society.

In November 2025, a major fire broke out at Hongfu Court in Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong, and Haitian responded immediately, donating 10 million Hong Kong dollars to support rescue and post-disaster reconstruction efforts, demonstrating the company’s responsibility and commitment.

All these efforts ultimately coalesce into a result: in 2025, MSCI upgraded Haitian’s ESG rating to A, achieving a triple jump for three consecutive years. The company received an AA grade in the Wind ESG rating, ranking first in the food industry; it also received an AA grade in the CSI ESG rating. On March 17, 2026, in the “2026 Forbes China Industry Development Leaders Selection” jointly initiated by Forbes China and Sullivan, Haitian was recognized as a leading enterprise for its systematic breakthroughs in digital intelligence and green initiatives.

In the context of the capital market, this means that you are not only a profitable enterprise but also a company worthy of long-term trust.

2025 is also a milestone year for Haitian’s internationalization. In June, it entered the Hong Kong stock market, injecting capital momentum into globalization; the establishment of overseas production bases provides a platform for the company to enter global markets, build a global supply chain, and leverage domestic competitive advantages. Meanwhile, it has also achieved breakthroughs on the product front, with products sold in over 80 countries and regions worldwide, being selected as one of the “Most Favorite Chinese Brands by Foreigners” for two consecutive years.

It is worth emphasizing that while accelerating global layout, Haitian has also increased its shareholder return efforts. In 2025, the company implemented a mid-term dividend of 2.6 yuan per 10 shares, announced a special dividend of 3 yuan per 10 shares, and together with the 2025 annual dividend, distributed nearly 7.95 billion yuan in cash dividends, achieving a cash dividend ratio of 112.95% in 2025, a historic high. Along with continuous monetary returns, Haitian has also developed a three-year dividend plan to share development results with global shareholders.

It is clear that Haitian has found a balance between expansion and returns, growth and sharing. The rise in ESG ratings, the global perspective of the Hong Kong stock platform, and the continuous goodwill towards shareholders are forming a positive feedback loop of value.

04

In Conclusion

Looking back, Haitian’s value can actually be dissected from three dimensions—product, technology, and channels, all pointing to the same starting point: whatever users need, Haitian will provide.

Products are the foundation. The three core categories, with decades of consistent flavor, form the base of the “people’s livelihood product platform.” Meanwhile, all innovations revolve around one logic, addressing the most genuine pain points of users.

Technology is the amplifier. Lighthouse factories are not just signs but guarantees of efficiency. Transforming experience into systemic capabilities, a digital supply chain allows for lower costs and faster deliveries.

Channels are the connectors. From understanding user needs through data at the C-end to achieving efficient customized responses at the B-end. Technology brings Haitian closer to users at every touchpoint.

When a company dissects “user needs” in sufficient detail and executes with enough depth, “stability” no longer signifies conservativeness but becomes the most solid foundation for navigating through cycles.