I. Why Anhui Warrants Dedicated Study

Anhui occupies a distinctive position in China's alcoholic beverage and tea manufacturing landscape through two product lines that are each nationally significant in their own right.

The first is the Hui baijiu cluster. The four leading brands — Gujing Gongjiu, Yingjia Gongjiu, Kouzi Jiao, and Xuan Liquor — have long dominated the East China regional baijiu market, maintaining strong local barriers that make it difficult for outside brands to penetrate.

The second is Anhui's famous teas. Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, Liu'an Guapian, and Qimen Red Tea are all included among China's top ten teas — a concentration of four from a single province that is virtually unmatched nationally, forming the core brand assets of the provincial tea industry.

The two tracks do not overlap geographically: Bozhou, Huaibei, Lu'an, and Xuancheng are baijiu strongholds, while Huangshan and Lu'an anchor tea production. Together, however, they point toward the same conclusion — Anhui has a clear industrial identity in consumer goods manufacturing, one built on qualitative distinctiveness rather than sheer volume.

II. Hui Baijiu: Provincial Dominance and the Full-Nationalization Challenge

Gujing Gongjiu: Provincial Leader, National Headwinds

Gujing Gongjiu (SZSE: 000596), headquartered in Bozhou, is Anhui's largest listed baijiu enterprise. In 2023, it reported operating revenue of RMB 20.254 billion, up 21.18% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 4.589 billion, up 46.01%, making it the sixth baijiu listed company in China to surpass RMB 20 billion in annual revenue. Media reports estimate its Anhui provincial revenue at approximately RMB 14 billion, commanding over 30% of the local white liquor market.

Bozhou's temperate climate and water quality have historically supported grain-based distilling, and the city has developed a supporting cluster of packaging, bottling, and logistics suppliers around the baijiu anchor. Expanding beyond the province — particularly into South and Central China — remains Gujing's stated strategic priority, but the challenge is structural: premium segments are dominated by Moutai and Wuliangye, and the economics of provincial brand nationalization rarely close quickly.

Yingjia Gongjiu: Cave-Aged Positioning from Lu'an

Yingjia Gongjiu (SSE: 603198), based in Huoshan County, Lu'an City, has built its brand around a natural cave-aged storage narrative. In 2023, the company achieved revenue of RMB 6.72 billion, up 22.07%, with net profit of RMB 2.288 billion, up 34.17%. Roughly 70% of revenue came from Anhui province, with out-of-province growth still in its early stages.

Kouzi Jiao: Adjustment in Huaibei

Kouzi Jiao, headquartered in Huaibei, reported 2023 revenue of approximately RMB 5.962 billion, up around 16%. The company faces growing pressure in the premium-price segment, and its channel footprint remains concentrated in Anhui. Huaibei is a major grain-producing area in northern Anhui, giving Kouzi Jiao a natural upstream advantage in raw materials.

Xuan Liquor: Regional Brand with Limited Public Disclosure

Xuan Liquor, based in Xuancheng, is a non-listed regional brand with a consumer base in the Yangtze River Delta. Its scale is smaller than the three listed peers, and detailed financial data are not publicly available.

III. Anhui Tea: Four Famous Teas and a RMB 90-Billion Value Chain

Overall Scale

According to data released by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in March 2025, Anhui's tea full-value-chain annual output has exceeded RMB 90 billion, with dry finished tea production of 181,000 tonnes and primary-sector output value of RMB 23.9 billion. The province has stable tea garden coverage of 3.2 million mu, and its tea exports by volume and value consistently rank second or third nationally. Anhui has nurtured seven national-level tea agribusiness leaders, 67 provincial-level leaders, and 19 companies with annual revenue exceeding RMB 100 million.

Huangshan Maofeng and Huangshan City

Huangshan City is Anhui's most important tea production hub. In 2023, it recorded tea output of 47,000 tonnes, primary-sector output value of RMB 4.95 billion, an average selling price of RMB 104.6 per kilogram, tea exports of 56,000 tonnes worth RMB 1.5 billion, and a comprehensive tea industry output value of RMB 26 billion. Huangshan Maofeng, concentrated in Fuxia Township of Huizhou District, is distinguished by tender buds and visible silver tips, and commands a premium positioning in China's high-end green tea market.

Taiping Houkui: Scarcity as a Structural Asset

Taiping Houkui's production zone is tightly confined to Houken Village and nearby townships in Huangshan District. Annual output is inherently limited, and first-harvest tea can reach several thousand yuan per jin. Its price premium rests on genuine resource constraints rather than marketing alone, making it one of the most defensible premium teas in China.

Liu'an Guapian: A Unique Artisanal Process

Liu'an Guapian is the only Chinese tea made exclusively from single mature leaves — all stems and buds are removed during processing. This distinctive technique, concentrated in Jinzhai County and Yü'an District of Lu'an City, creates a strong product identity. Notably, Lu'an is also the home of Yingjia Gongjiu, making the city a rare geographic overlap of Anhui's two most recognizable industry tracks.

Qimen Red Tea: Anhui's Most International Tea

Qimen Red Tea, produced mainly in Qimen County, Huangshan City, is Anhui's most internationally oriented tea product. In 2024, Qimen County produced 7,800 tonnes of tea with a comprehensive output value of RMB 7 billion, generating average farmer income of RMB 7,500 per person. Qimen is recognized alongside Darjeeling (India) and Uva (Sri Lanka) as one of the world's three great high-aroma black teas, with a regional brand value exceeding RMB 4.5 billion.

IV. Upstream and Downstream Structure

Baijiu Value Chain

Northern Anhui's grain plains (around Bozhou and Huaibei) supply sorghum and wheat directly to regional distilleries, reducing procurement costs. Mid-stream distilling, aging, and bottling are largely vertically integrated within each major brand. Downstream, distribution relies on provincial dealer networks as the primary channel, with out-of-province expansion through regional distributors and modern retail.

Packaging — glass bottles, paper packaging, decorative gift boxes — represents a significant cost item and a localized supply opportunity; a supporting packaging cluster has formed around Bozhou and Huaibei.

Tea Value Chain

Tea farming in Anhui is dominated by smallholders and cooperatives; large brands typically source raw material through a company-cooperative-farmer model. Mid-stream processing spans primary tea production (rough processing), refined processing (de-stemming, drying, blending), and deep processing (tea beverages, tea extracts). Downstream, specialty tea shops, e-commerce platforms, and export trading are the primary channels.

The growth of new-style tea drink brands is opening a new large-volume procurement channel for Anhui tea ingredients. Summer and autumn tea utilization has become a strategic priority to improve overall raw material efficiency: Anhui's summer-autumn tea output value grew 9.2% in 2023.

Sales teams supplying upstream goods and services to Anhui alcoholic beverage and tea factories can use Tianxia Gongchang to filter factory directories and decision-maker contacts by region and industry, enabling precise identification of potential clients.

V. Structural Challenges

For Hui baijiu brands, the core tension is between a saturated provincial market and the high cost of province-exit. Intra-Anhui competition among the top four brands is intensifying as the overall market matures, while full-nationalization requires sustained channel investment with uncertain returns. Macroeconomic headwinds — reduced business banqueting, softer premium consumption — have further compressed the timeline for achieving meaningful out-of-province payback.

For Anhui's famous teas, the primary challenge is sustaining the value of protected geographical designations. Consumer ability to distinguish authentic high-end teas from lower-quality imitations varies widely, and documented abuses of geographical indication labels erode trust over time. The governance question — how to expand output without diluting quality — is one that Qimen, Houkui, and Guapian producers will face in each harvest cycle for the foreseeable future.

VI. Northern Anhui and Southern Anhui: A Natural Industrial Complement

The geographic distribution of Anhui's alcoholic beverage and tea manufacturing effectively mirrors the province's topography: the northern plains favor grain cultivation and thus distilling; the southern mountains and temperate highlands favor tea tree cultivation. The result is a north-south industrial complementarity that together gives Anhui one of the most recognizable consumer goods manufacturing profiles of any Chinese province.

Lu'an stands at the intersection — producing both Yingjia Gongjiu and Liu'an Guapian — and serves as the most concrete illustration of how Anhui's two defining product lines can coexist and reinforce each other within a single city.

Sources

  • Tianxia Gongchang (Anhui alcoholic beverages and tea factory directory and industry data)
  • Gujing Gongjiu 2023 Annual Report Summary (Shenzhen Stock Exchange, April 2024)
  • Yingjia Gongjiu 2023 annual results coverage (21st Century Business Herald, April 2024)
  • China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Information Network (Anhui tea full-value-chain output exceeds RMB 90 billion, March 2025)
  • Huangshan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Huangshan 2023 tea industry data)
  • Xinhua News Agency (Qimen Red Tea feature, April 2023)
  • Beehive Agricultural Data (Anhui 2024 tea industry high-quality development brief)
  • MOFCOM Alcohol Circulation Monitoring System (Gujing Gongjiu 2023 revenue data)