2026 Beer Industry Outlook: Under a strong and competitive market landscape, can the beer industry with pronounced "debt-like" characteristics reach a pivotal turning point in its operations?

I. 2025 Business Outlook for the Beer Industry: Moderate Market Competition and Cost Benefits Coming Through

On March 31, Qingdao Beer released its 2025 annual report, and by then, the three largest domestic beer companies had all published their 2025 operating performance. By looking at the 2025 financial and operating data of three major industry leaders—China Resources Beer, Qingdao Beer, and Chongqing Beer—we can clearly see the industry’s operating resilience and evolving trends amid a complex macro environment.

(Note: China Resources Beer’s apparent net profit attributable to the parent was affected by goodwill impairment from its liquor business; core/adjusted net profit reflects the true operating profit after excluding special items such as impairment.)

1. Revenue and Volume: Slight Expansion in a “Same-Size” Battle

Against the backdrop of damage to on-premise consumption scenarios, leading companies still held their base volume. In 2025, China Resources Beer’s beer business generated operating revenue of RMB 36.49 billion, basically flat year over year; it sold 11.03 million kiloliters, up slightly by 1.4% year over year. Qingdao Beer posted full-year revenue of RMB 32.473 billion, with beer sales reaching 7.648 million kiloliters, up 1.5% year over year. Chongqing Beer recorded full-year revenue of RMB 14.722 billion, up slightly by 0.5% year over year, and beer volume grew by 0.7% year over year. This indicates that in an environment of generally weak overall demand, leading companies—thanks to their strong channel control and brand barriers—can still deliver performance that remains more resilient than the industry, with market share further consolidating toward the top players.

2. Price per Kiloliter and Gross Margin: Downward Pressure in Appearance, Offset by Cost Benefits

In 2025, due to soft macro consumer spending power and companies’ active strengthening of channel promotions, the industry’s price per kiloliter faced broad pressure. China Resources Beer’s price per kiloliter was RMB 3,308, down 1.4% year over year; Qingdao Beer’s price per kiloliter fell slightly by 0.7% year over year; Chongqing Beer also declined by 0.15%.

However, the decline in price per kiloliter did not break the profitability model. Benefiting from significant reductions in procurement costs for raw materials such as barley and packaging materials, companies’ gross margins expanded against the trend. China Resources Beer’s overall gross margin reached 43.07%. Of that, the beer business gross margin increased by 1.4 percentage points year over year to 42.5%; Qingdao Beer and Chongqing Beer’s gross margins rose by 2.4 and 1.6 percentage points, respectively, year over year.

On the gross sales spread side, in addition to the premium market being besieged by domestic brands against Budweiser APAC, domestic listed beer companies have shown a steady improvement over the past three years, driving a rebound in profitability.

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