Spirit of expertise and craftsmanship preserved over thousands of years

Moutai liquor, a household name in China, is flowing abroad and increasing its reputation in the international market.

“For consumers in most countries around the world, Moutai is an unfamiliar Chinese spirit with a mysterious oriental culture,” said Li Jingren, vice-chairman and president of Kweichow Moutai Group. “However, we believe in our quality and taste. As long as we are given time, more international consumers will definitely become Moutai fans.

“It’s like decades ago, when Chinese people of our generation first experienced beer. We gradually fell in love with this beautiful drink. Chinese liquor, including Moutai, will attract more consumers in the global market.”

As a time-honored liquor brand, Moutai has great cultural connotations and history.

Moutai township in Renhuai city, Guizhou province in Southwest China, where the distiller is located, has a long tradition of making liquor in a unique environment.

From unearthed cultural relics, it is thought locals began distilling liquor more than 2,000 years ago, according to Li.

The township was known as an important salt trading hub some 70 years ago and became a center of wealth. This helped encourage highcost production in Moutai’s developmental stage.

The Chishui River, running through the township and flowing into the Yangtze River, provided a key waterway to ship goods to Shanghai before the steam engine was introduced to inland China.

Li said the birth of Moutai is similar to that of famous wine industry belts, such as Bordeaux. Both have a long tradition of craftsmanship, a favorable climate and geographical location, coupled with sufficient consumer demand and convenient transportation.

An influential brand needs to have rich heritage and profound history, as well as the capacity to innovate, in addition to its high-quality products and services, Li said.

“It is Moutai’s history and cultural heritage that have shaped its image and character,” he said.

In 1951, when Moutai began transforming itself from a small workshop to a modern enterprise, its annual output was some 70 metric tons and its annual revenue was less than $10,000.

“People without knowledge of Moutai’s history can hardly imagine that it took us more than half a century to reach where we are today and become one of the world’s largest liquor companies by market value,” Li said.

“For all the Moutai staff, including myself, Moutai is not only a precious asset left by our predecessors, but also a historical mission that our generation must carry on,” he said. “The word ‘Moutai’ does not only mean a bottle of liquor or the name of a company, but a kind of value identity related to the spirit, quality and integrity of craftsmanship.”

Learning from success stories in the global business community, Moutai puts emphasis on quality control, improving services and beating shortcomings to gain sustainable growth, he said.

Positioning the brand firmly in the high-end liquor segment, he said a price war has never been an option for Moutai, no matter what the company’s business results are.

“The high-end market, as we understand, is focused on quality,” he said. “We believe that the priority and importance of quality and brand are always above other factors.”

In China, consumers instantly recognize Moutai’s commitment to quality and regard it as a benchmark for Chinese alcoholic beverages. “This is hard-earned trust and an honor,” he said.

Internationally, Moutai has become one of the most well-known Chinese brands to foreign businesses, with a wide range of channels and growing influence.

The company has invested heavily in promoting its brand in different countries, according to Li.

For Moutai, the short-term goal in the international market is to continue stabilizing the overseas Chinese market and through them increase its popularity among consumer groups from other cultural backgrounds, he said. “The medium-term goal is to further increase the proportion of Moutai liquor’s overseas sales and encourage a relatively stable demand and consumption habit in a more international community.”

“Moutai is set to further strengthen brand building, enhance its brand character and increase its profile worldwide.”