Mid-Autumn 2026 Baijiu Market: Wuliangye and Guojiao Retail, Wholesale Prices Ease

Consumer demand is the ultimate outlet for the baijiu market. Producers can balance prices by controlling supply, or increase consumption by lowering prices. During the most buoyant sales period, Wuliangye and Luzhou Laojiao prices traded at market levels. At their wholesale peak, Puwu stood at RMB 920 and Guojiao at RMB 860. The producers' suggested retail prices for Wuliangye and Luzhou Laojiao were RMB 1,499, but that level was never reached; RMB 1,099 was the historical high.

Currently, Puwu retails at RMB 798 and Guojiao at RMB 881; wholesale prices are RMB 785 for Puwu and RMB 835 for Guojiao. Retail prices are difficult to control, while ex-factory prices can be managed. When Luzhou Laojiao proposed limiting volumes to support prices, the retail price had already fallen from RMB 1,000 to RMB 900, and the producer's price control targeted the market wholesale price. Guojiao's wholesale price fell from RMB 860 to RMB 825, within a normal fluctuation range.

After the nominal pricing system was scrapped and the actual pricing system implemented, the five-code-in-one restriction on retail prices was relaxed somewhat, and Mid-Autumn sales saw clear momentum. Wuliangye reduced total market supply to support prices, resulting in brief local shortages. Distributors had previously purchased at high prices and received large subsidies, needing to lose money first before obtaining subsidies; now procurement offsets each other, and producers have shifted to selling at a positive margin, earning on every bottle sold, prompting distributors to increase promotion efforts and resource allocation.