The coldest wine and spirits fair in history concludes, transforming from a flowing feast to a redefinition of value

Ask AI · The Value Reset of the China Wine & Spirits Fair: How Should Liquor Companies Respond to a New Cycle of Inventory-Based Competition?

China.com.cn Finance and Economics, March 30 (Reporter Chen Qiong) On March 28, the 114th National China Wine & Spirits Commodity Trade Fair concluded in Chengdu. As a “barometer” for the food and alcoholic beverage industry, this spring’s China Wine & Spirits Fair brought together 6,600 companies from 40 countries and regions, with more than 400,000 professional visitors and consumers attending to exchange, communicate, and negotiate.

At the same time, new changes are also taking place. Moutai made its first absence from the hotel exhibition, and Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, and Yanghe also collectively faded from the hotel exhibition scene. The presence of hotel exhibitions—whose main function is to attract investment—has been further weakened, creating an intuitive sense that this spring’s China Wine & Spirits Fair, known as “the number one fair under heaven,” is running cold.

Baijiu expert Xiao Zhuqing noted that the “cold” and “hot” coexist at the 2026 Spring Fair (ChunGeng). This marks the end of an era—an era of baijiu relying on stockpiling, channel expansion, and rapid scale growth is quietly fading away. In its place is a new cycle of refined operations, inventory-based rivalry, and high-quality development. For liquor companies, the value of the Spring Fair is shifting from a “trade promotion meeting” to an “industry summit.” For distributors, it is shifting from a “product selection fair” to a “watch post.” For the entire industry, this may be a necessary path to squeeze out bubbles and return to rationality.

Uneven “Hot and Cold” Across Hotel Exhibitions

The hotel exhibitions held before the Spring Fair opens every year are where exhibitors “show off their muscles,” and they are also seen as a window for observing industry trends.

This year, major liquor companies such as Moutai and Wuliangye are no longer participating in hotel exhibitions, which is viewed as a major and more pragmatic move by the industry. Reporters from China.com.cn Finance and Economics conducted on-site visits and found that hotel exhibitions, which used to be packed with people, have shown new changes this year. In Jinjiang Hotel, it is still packed; “hosts holding smartphones and shouting energetically at the camera” has become standard. The integration of online and offline has become the new normal. This reflects the urgency with which liquor companies are exploring new channels amid inventory competition. But at the Wangjiang Hotel, where Moutai made its first absence, only Xi Ye Liquor is left as an exhibitor, and the number of exhibitors for the Paradise Hotel has shrunk dramatically.

According to people in the industry, this year the heat of hotel exhibitions centered on attracting investment has declined, and the prices of booths have fallen. Compared with last year, they are down by 10%-20%. With inventory and channel pressure, distributors are becoming more rational.

The structural shrinkage of hotel exhibitions has triggered speculation about the disappearance of hotel exhibitions. In the view of baijiu expert Xiao Zhuqing, the China Wine & Spirits Fair’s investment-attraction function is being weakened and transforming into an industry exchange platform. Although the top players are exiting, there are still investment-attraction needs from liquor developers, OEM/contract manufacturers, and new brands. As distributors say: “Those still running over there are basically the ones developing liquor, the ones doing contract branding. You pitch a new brand and try your luck to find distributors.”

Healthy Liquor and Expansion of Low-Alcohol Liquor

Through new product deployment by liquor companies, this year’s Spring Fair outlines the development direction of a new cycle for the baijiu industry, and health-focused, younger, and lower-alcohol strategies have become industry consensus.

Gujinggong Liquor Company brought a “four brands, six flavor profiles” lineup featuring its four major brands and six flavor styles, and also launched products such as Qingyang She wine shop, “Milk Green Wave” milk tea, and Guqi herbal whiskey, demonstrating in an all-around way its plans in youthfulness, innovation, and internationalization.

As Gujinggong’s functional alcohol beverage layout in the healthy great-health arena, Shenli Liquor is based on baijiu, blended with herbal ingredients with medicinal and edible origins such as ginseng, polygonatum, and goji berries, combining the taste of baijiu with health-preserving functions. Gujing Light Yang She is guided by the philosophy of “nourishing life, nurturing the body, and soothing the mind,” covering multiple categories including herbal beverages, healthy light meals, and cultural baijiu experience.

What reporters saw on site is that “Milk Green Wave” milk tea made by Minglv Ye has become a popular check-in hotspot among the younger fair-goers. A relevant person in charge of Gujinggong told reporters from China.com.cn Finance and Economics, “Milk Green Wave” milk tea will kick off investment attraction, and the number of stores this year will increase. From “selling liquor” to “selling a lifestyle,” Gujinggong is leading the industry.

Worth noting is that spirit-based aperitifs (lu jiu) as well as the health-focused segment are becoming a new growth point. The rise of Jingjiu has driven more and more liquor companies to develop health-preserving wines. Zhutai Qing, Tongrentang, Guangyuyuan, and Hainan Yedao have all stepped up efforts in the health-preserving alcohol field. During the Spring Fair period, Shanxi Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group Co., Ltd. launched a new product, Chenpi Fenjiu. As the first product in the Fenjiu spirit-based aperitif series, the introduction of Chenpi Fenjiu also signals a major push by Fenjiu into the spirit-based aperitif industry.

Data released by the China Alcohol Industry Association shows that from 2020 to 2024, industry profits in the spirit-based aperitif sector grew by nearly 200%. Even against the backdrop of overall pressure on the alcohol industry in the first half of 2025, its growth momentum has not slowed down. Industry forecasts further point out that by 2030, the market scale of spirit-based aperitifs is expected to break 200 billion yuan, accelerating the shift from niche categories to mainstream tracks.

Industry analyst Cai Xuefei said that the growth of health-preserving liquor comes from the wave of “health-focused” development and “pleasure-for-oneself” consumption. The market is shifting from “exclusive for middle-aged and elderly” to all age groups, especially younger women and the “light health-preserving” group. The challenge lies in how to balance “efficacy” and “taste,” shed the impression of “medicinal liquor,” and achieve daily drinkability.

Meanwhile, low-alcohol liquor at this spring’s China Wine & Spirits Fair remains hot. Low-alcohol Guojiao 1573, Wuliangye’s Yijian Qinshi, Tuoshit Zizai, Shuijingfang Zhenxin Zhenyi Qingyang, and Gujinggong’s light alcohol products have all received strong attention.

From a Flowing Feast to Value Rebuilding

“There is less and less business being discussed at the China Wine & Spirits Fair, and more and more discussions about industry trends,” baijiu industry expert Xiao Zhuqing said.

The nature of the Spring Fair is also changing. In the heyday of the baijiu industry, the Spring Fair was a flowing feast: during toasts and clinking cups, manufacturers and distributors fully aligned their business. They enjoyed the dividends of the era and the industry. Now, the Spring Fair is a stage for value rebuilding. For industry giants, the Fair’s function of attracting investment is weakening; precise investment attraction is more efficient than large-scale “flooding.” But for new brands, new categories, and new liquor-producing regions, the Fair is still an indispensable stage.

Industry analyst Cai Xuefei said the intuitive impression of this Spring Fair is that “rationality” and “divergence” coexist. With giants such as Moutai and Wuliangye fading from the hotel exhibition, the exhibition’s transactional nature has weakened, and the value of industry exchange has become more prominent. The market shows a harsh “dumbbell-shaped” structure: high-end liquor is supported by rigid demand, mass market bottled liquor is driven by value-for-money and volume, while mid-range premium liquor has become a severe inventory disaster area. As crossovers keep going deeper, small categories such as health liquor, whiskey, and fruit wines are developing rapidly. Distributors are no longer blindly sweeping inventory; instead, they pay more attention to sell-through and stable pricing.

Liquor industry observer Ouyang Qianli said that the era where people made money by simply lying back has long ended. A time of intensive cultivation and fine work is arriving. Whoever understands consumers better, and whoever understands sell-through better, can be the first old brands to get out of the impact of industry adjustment, while new brands can stand out. Ouyang Qianli said that although total consumption may contract, there is still room for growth driven by the squeeze from the leading players. Competition centered on consumers has become the “new normal.”

Liquor companies are also beginning to face and actively respond to industry adjustments. At a distributor conference recently held by Luzhou Laojiao, Chairman Liu Miao said plainly that the baijiu industry overall has entered an inventory-based competition era, and the era of high-speed expansion of grabbing market share by running the track is already over. Slower development, or even losing speed, will become the new normal.

The baijiu industry in 2025 experienced the deepest adjustment period in nearly a decade. In 2026, standing at the crossroads, the industry is trying to find new survival rules in a game of inventory—even shrinking—in quantity. This year’s spring China Wine & Spirits Fair may provide some answers.