Why Breaking Into the Chinese Beer Market Is Almost Impossible | WSJ

As global beer sales have stalled, major brewers such as AB InBev and Carlsberg are flocking to China. WSJ's Steven Russolillo in Hong Kong tests their strategies, sipping the beers specially crafted to win over Chinese drinkers.
Image composite: Sharon Shi. Video: Clément Bürge
#WSJ #beer

[@yangmingchong4552]

By interviewing several non-Chinese guys, WSJ tries to deeply understand the Chinese consumer market. Good job WSJ.

[@swillmerchant9886]

i reckon they are trying to get the view of a relatively successful non local beer brewers, it's all about foreign brands making inroads in Chinese beer market.

[@letsrelaxwithtexts2114]

all these beer have hops?

[@nsebast]

At least they went there to interview. Some reports call in China experts who have been there twice lol.

[@NazriB]

Lies again? AMWF Car Higher Chinese

[@EddieG702]

American beer is enormously overpriced.

[@brandon4391]

I can’t imagine a corona if they even have it

[@munenex]

Enormously taxed.

[@brendencampbell3082]

TRASH JUICE

[@ReasonableRadio]

You should try buying a beer in canada lol A typical bar is $5 a bottle and $8 a pint

[@campkira]

u don't paid for the beer....

[@chocoball604]

This video is supposed to be about the China beer market....yet everyone's in Hong Kong which is an entirely separate market dynamic. Why didn't they interview InBev China or Tsingtao, or even some of the craft breweries in Shenzhen or Shanghai???

[@DoughBoy45]

CCP has representatives eeeeeeeeeverywhere

[@dxelson]

I tell you why, he's a journalist. Probably got his visa denied. It happens more often than you think.

[@ThaOriginalGangsta77]

Joseph Lo we don’t like commies

[@chocoball604]

@@ThaOriginalGangsta77 Well then don't put "China" in the title....make it "Why Hong Kong Beer Companies Find It Almost Impossible to Break into China" or something....

[@CuongNguyen-le5ic]

If you talk about China's beer market, then also talk about FAKE and POISONOUS Beer as well. Even Fake Wines also run rampage in China that could kill you if you are not careful.

[@singularity-6339]

Almost everything is very very competitive in China not just beer.

[@JohnnyHoO111]

"Bad money drives out good" kind of competitive

[@felixvikes28]

You sure u didn't mean counterfeit

[@gofy9990]

@@felixvikes28 Check your phone and keyboard before comment.

[@gofy9990]

@@JohnnyHoO111 So the good has no money?

[@felixvikes28]

@@gofy9990 lol u make me laugh u comie POS everything you guys do a copy from The USA 😀

[@swainsunilkumar9968]

An American is taking advice from an indian (who is apparently a brewer in hong kong) for the chinese. Can't there be more globalisation loll

[@StanMzmr]

In China almost every major city has their own beer brand, local people are very loyal to their local beer as part of their life and culture.

[@xcofcd]

It's very similar here in Germany. But if some outsider comes in with a much cheaper pricepoint at least some people will change brands... So these american companies should try to make a decent product for a low price instead they're throwing millions in marketing at it to make Chinese customers buy their junk beer for a high price point...

[@lixzx007]

@@xcofcd but local beer is so cheap the forgin brand is never going to beat

[@lixzx007]

@@xcofcd and even the forginer some how managed beat the price point the local beer is always consider to be much fresher.

[@user-qj6ot6fv4g]

Not totally true.I’m from China.As long as the quality of products is good with nice price no matter where it is made from,it could be winner in Chinese consumers market.

[@frankun8755]

@@xcofcd can you sell half a dollar for a bottle of beer? It's not so possible to cheap beer cheaper than the local one in China

[@candyapu3]

"i CoUlD dRiNk ThIs aFtEr rUnNiNg a MaRaThoN"

[@kienwarren2870]

candyapu3 this is what i came to the comments for lol

[@benevolentdictator8947]

I mean what kind of vibe is he trying to give?

[@seangreen9633]

Put a “supreme” logo on it.

[@mrGAMEINFORMATION]

@@sirkeg1 no supreme was right lol

[@iharrison5031]

F**K it we'll do it live! r/whoosh

[@bennetttan8535]

$150 a can now

[@eddfasd]

As cheap as water ?, So how come a beer like Budweiser, which taste like water, be so expensive. ?

[@dragondescendant1]

Taxes

[@singloc3021]

The video tells you, foreign beer is desired as it is projected to be of better quality. Americans are no different back in the old days as if it came from Germany, it must be good. We are luck for the rise of microbreweries. In my mind, America now has the best beers in the world

[@dragondescendant1]

@@singloc3021 most American drink foreign beer, Corona, Heineken.......even Budweiser is no longer an American company.

[@singloc3021]

Budweiser is owned by InBev and what I'm saying is back in the day, if it's foreign, it has to be good

[@DeutschlandGuy]

What a silly question. Economics 101 says you charge the price that the market will bear. Case in point, Apple charges ridiculously high prices for inferior phones and gets by with it simply because people are stupid enough to pay the price. It is no big mystery.

[@AlexS-oj8qf]

What they mean by "Global Brands" is American brands, really.

[@ericktellez7632]

You are right, but believe it or not, Mexico is the largest exporter of beer.

[@JustABoringAsianGuy]

I am from Guangdong Province, my favorite beer used to be TsingTao. Now I drink Feldschlösschen mostly, a German brand survived the DDR era and managed to get inside Chinese market. Other times I drink Blue Ribbon.

[@johngalt3940]

Blue ribbon is great I wish they sold it in Shanghai.

[@drewberry8945]

tsingtao is actually pretty nice. They sell them in Wetherspoon's in the UK. I often get alongside other 5% beers.

[@derhirsl2458]

The Tsingtao that you get in Europe is made by Heineken and has no similarities to the original Chinese one

[@tomlin9539]

Finally we arrived at the era that we drink for journalism.

[@hautakleightontam771]

My two cents; I don't think you can make much headway into the Chinese market with pedestrian beer since big local companies like Tsingtao will always outcompete you in terms of cost and brand familiarity. It doesn't help that most macro-lagers taste far too similar. Instead, why not go the opposite route and generate buzz with a super-premium beer, made with high-quality ingredients and marketed like fine wine? Many mainland consumers enjoy buying foreign alcohol brands for their perceived quality/exoticism and as a status symbol. If you can make a product that taps into those same impulses and compliments Chinese cuisine (e.g. a Sichuan pepper-infused DIPA), you could create a niche in the market populated by new, young enthusiasts looking for an alternative to the usual brandies, whiskies, wines and white-spirits for special occasions.

[@daggern00b]

30 cents a can? Guess I'm packing my bags guys...

[@duddledeedo]

Not in HK you won't find any (where he is in the video).

[@michaelw7722]

In germany the cheap beer cans 0,5liter cost 29cent

[@azzy90]

Slovakia beer.

[@LuckyBird551]

Something similar happens in Argentina with ice cream. It is a large ice cream market with lots of brands abd competitirs. But international giants have trouble getting in the market.

[@supergrinder8085]

Great video. Although the middle class is growing, along with its interest in leisure and craft beers, the majority of beer consumption comes from the large percentage of lower income who have grown up with the affordable local produce. It is good to note that craft brands like boxing cat and goose have sprung up with attention in the previous years, but the market segmentation between leisure and mass beers should not be changing a lot. The undisputed giants mainly yanjing, tsingtao, snow and harbin will continue to dominate in coming years.

[@xcofcd]

Gotta know exactly what you're doing in Asia. I know of a smaller german brewery that started slowly selling to Asia. One day they had a problem with the printers that print the best by date on the bottom of the can and some cans had weird overlaying prints. They thought not much of it and send two containers there. Unfortunately that Asian country had very very strict regulations due to a lot of fraud and mislabeling food products going on there. They basically said the brewery just printed a new best by date on some old cans that arrived their first best by date. Something nobody would even think of doing in germany. In the end of the day all two containers needed to be destroyed and they were heavily fined. The entire thing cost around a half million US$...

[@robspunk]

This story has nothing to do with China. This story has nothing to do with what's happening here. He's only in HK and he's exclusively talking about the HK market.

[@mrshangpa]

1. Make them good and cheap 2. Play friendly and locally 3. Ask your government and NGO's to stop lame and insidious attacks to the Chinese people. Beers are emotional.

[@abh15funk]

I have been curious for a long time to try TsingTao. Have tried Wusu and Blanc and Budweiser and Carlsberg amongst the ones shown here.

[@qgm694]

Dang. I was really wanting to break into the Chinese beer market

[@jonsmith5626]

Never heard of "young masters" in Beijing, I'm really surprised they didn't interview people in Shanghai, Shenzhen or Beijing.

[@CuongNguyen-le5ic]

Too many visa, permits and strict monitor in China for journalist. Not to mention he could be on blocked list to enter China.

[@vikramdas6645]

Average beer bottle costs 120 rupees in India That's like 2 dollars Too much taxes

[@defyiant]

Tsingtao is my favorite beer. All the way here in California.

[@laratao5720]

I think the Pineapple Beer you got there is the non-alcohol one, it is just like the ginger beer. There is another alcohol version of the pineapple beer but I seldom see it.

[@yoparsons80]

"China drinks nearly twice as much beer as the US." US= 327 Million people China= 1.3 Billion people

[@chrissytheconqueror7049]

4:20 Corona in China didn't turn out so well

[@338684q]

Orange County 1 California

[@coconuts5500]

***germany has entered the chat***

[@theotherside931]

*Beers in Nigeria sell for $0.55 on the average. The most expensive ones like Stout, Heineken, Legend etc sell for $0.83. And there are new ones that came out that sell for $0.41. So you can see, none sells for even a dollar. Try that here and get ready to consume all you brewed yourself.*

[@xlyoutube]

Most beers in China are pale lagers which aren't my cup of t..beer. Last year in Beijing I was pleasantly surprised many of the local brands also introduced wheat / ale styles although still not as dark as I want them to be but nonetheless a great step towards beer diversity. I think I tried a Yanjing or Harbin Dunkel too, not bad. Beer is and has always been the "people's drink" in China. Unless the western beer brands can compete at the same price range, I don't see they otherwise have much edge in this especially now that local brands are diversifying their styles.

[@Taurineg]

Why would you film a short about beer in China in Hong Kong? I mean, literally listen to that guy's accent.

[@LarryLiu77]

you must be one of those idiots who think HK is not part of China

[@Taurineg]

Larry Liu Yes let's film a video about China in Taiwan while we're at it

[@dxelson]

@@LarryLiu77 Hong Kong is part of China, but it doesn't even remotely resemble chinese consumers habits. It's a SAR for a reason.

[@faridelfadani5404]

No no no , Corona sell because of vin diesel

[@AwesumBear]

This is very interesting, because, from my experience, Chinese people see foreign products as superior and high-end even, and are willing to pay a premium for them. It's mentioned in the video at 4:30 and 5:00 but seems to be contrary to what the title is suggesting.

[@jyashin]

Only if the product in question is a status symbol. So cars, watches, sure. See is hardly a status symbol.

[@tubelilous]

How is Bluegirl not mentioned? Young master is not everyone's fav. The variety of flavours are no more than novelity and generally unfocused. Gweilo beer is one of the best available craft beer in hk that is also not mentioned. As per the InBev IPO withdrawal, there were lots of discussions about the lack of sufficient leverage available for the IPO that led to the insufficient interests. Once it is apparent that a quick turnaround profit is quite risky, investors got cold feet. Maybe there's fundamental concerns about the business model but it's certainly not the whole story.

[@billbrogan4933]

Oh by the way, I run marathons.

[@AnomalousAppendages]

"Oh I would totally drink this after finishing a full ironman"

[@TheTerribleNinjaPodcast]

I'll be moving to Shenzhen very soon. I'll be reporting on the craft beer scene in Shenzhen and beyond! :)

[@lukasoitzl133]

It's amazing to be honest. Not cheap but worth it. My favourites were ET brewery and Bionic brew. Have a look when you're there.

[@AllenHanPR]

5:07 As an Asian we do not talk our parents like that. We certainly do not celebrate over beer. It is likely we drink whiskey or Chinese wine.

[@maryellenw]

Pineapple-flavoured beer sounds great! My Kirkland Signature tropical-flavoured yogurt is delicious (pineapple and mango), so maybe pineapple is the new thing!

[@donkeykong516]

Budweiser tried for years, but beer is just a notch above water for the Chinese market.

[@lafilemea9279]

I clicked bc i thought the title said: "Why breaking into the Chinese beef market is almost impossible".

[@DoubleUp9999]

When it comes to beer wine and spirits, it comes down to price like everything else.

[@jamiebehun1743]

@Wall Street Journal could you please make a video about Why Breaking Into the Indian Beer Market Is Almost Impossible | WSJ

[@honghaowu3747]

Tsingtao beer was founded in which was a German colony by a British company though.

[@pederskram4376]

Chinese beers are actually tasty. I live in Denmark and we have here Carlsberg, Tuborg, Royal and Thor, among other local beers. Average price is 60 Cents a can. Most Danes prefer local beers. Carlsberg also brew foreign beers under license but generally, we drink local stuff because it's among the best there is, or so we think. Matter of taste.

[@vencytalks5952]

That pineapple beer is basically my childhood 🍍🍻

[@jaydaksy4094]

Yeah where their employees urinate in the beer

[@Athrunwong]

You can sell German, Belgium beers, there is always demand for high end beer. But many of them just doesn’t worth it.

[@paulkelly7896]

Really interesting

[@DGLuxton]

This was a nice reminder of the rivers of cheap beer I drank while living in China. I tried the Pineapple Beer in - only because it was literally about 3 cents a can. The Wind Flower Snow Moon was a highlight when I was in Yunnan. But there are also now microbreweries popping up everywhere on the Mainland, not just in Hong Kong.

[@tonyzhu1687]

@Green Earth That's definitely a typo, its thirty US cents

[@fortunatowenceslao1055]

Make it plain water and market it as beer with water taste for 0.10 cent per can. That would work in China.

[@letsrelaxwithtexts2114]

all these beer have hops?

[@santibouphavong]

Wish my beer was 30 cents a can

[@aimeebrown7647]

Stark Banner man you earn 7 times more than an avg Chinese

[@evilpimp2475]

I usually drink Budweiser and Lone Star beer but chinese beer is really good, i buy it once in a while.

[@Lululemon2023]

Making better-tasting beer would a good starting point, like American chocolate bars and candies, calling US beers awful-tasting is a generous tribute.

[@scottbreon9448]

Every time Americans talk about good beer, a German Shepherd dies

[@xionglin2009]

i think the actual reason is: beer is beer, people just need grain tasting bubbly drink with alcohol to go with conversation, why pay 10 times the money for a foreign brand while the local ones do the job?

[@nobody.123]

But the cheap local beers have hardly any alcohol and taste like water. While something like the IPA has 3 times the alcohol and 10 times the flavor. It's not about getting the job done, it's just something ingrained in the culture by time, and I'm sure will shift in the times ahead.

[@IAMDIMITRI]

OMG Carlsberg is amazing at marketing.

[@smartbaba1321]

1:58 he is Indian. Lovely .😘

[@myHuge249]

imagine someone from carlsberg talking about knowing what to drink

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

wind flower snow moon - i wanna try that

[@patrick05020]

Look at the sign on the right at 1:01

[@lafkdjay]

They've upsold coffee. Now they trying to upsell beer.

[@weiskl887]

No one monopolizes everybody win some. Great and healthy market.

[@kantiao6006]

I use to drink nanchang beer... It's local beer... Cheap and taste okay

[@deeboi7230]

Any liquor stores ?

[@CulllegLee]

Most of the beer made in China are of low standard, too much CO2 inflated and poor flavor. It's more like drinking water. However, there are some local breweies that provide fresh beer to residents around, but this kind of beer is limited to only them for the sake of being hard to preserve. That is the beer which can be called authentic.

[@tnnsboy18]

Send some four loko's over there HAHA

[@kingkong4737]

*laughs in German*

[@joshgladden2930]

Jing A is owned by carlsburg ? when did that happen

[@joachimpetersen2301]

Why am I watching this. Now I really want a beer.

[@JK-gu3tl]

Tsingtao was founded by Germans, though.

[@Zergcerebrates]

That’s why it’s so good.

[@JK-gu3tl]

@Morahman7vnNo2 Ben Franklin hated Germans.

[@thomasgrabkowski8283]

Morahman7vnNo2 that’s why German style lager is everywhere

[@sibaraku2023]

almost every province even every city got its own beer which people have been drinking for years. there is not even a chance for a foreign brand.

[@johnclark3108]

Hold my greatest kingfisher beer 🍺

[@edr.2642]

I live in Canada and I like more Asian beers like Sapporo are way better than main stream North American beers.

[@quangquybaole8297]

Anyone still come here because of Coursera's leading (the course Strategy Formulation of the Copenhagen Business School) :D

[@kotimoto]

Let me get this right, 1. So Chinese are happy drinking local cheap beer. 2. The America's are unhappy, because they don't like that the locals like cheap beer.

[@arbit3r]

I don't think you understand

[@kotimoto]

@@arbit3r care to explain?

[@zeccy337]

You're right. Americans hate that they don't get a cut of this gigantic market.

[@qwertykevin1]

I'm guessing no ipas over there

[@mickker841]

Harbin beer is good. My beer of choice in China in summer

[@toffguy3297]

No more Chinmese Beer. Pi pi pi pi .. who will drink ?

[@zrlabels]

Just print your own brand labels for the target market.

[@user-jq6mw2dj3h]

no wonder why the wusu beer is always more expensive... i thought it was because xinjiang is expensive but no its carlsberg thats right even their "low price" beer is not that cheap

[@cinnamondan4984]

Panda Beer rocks. Yes that is an actual beer here

[@luhaizhou]

In mainland China, almost only lager. To most mainland people, lager=beer, do they don’t even know the name “lager” or “IPA” or “weiss beer”. Other types of beer take a very small portion of market, though you can find them in some bars dedicated to craft beers. In most supermarkets in Hong Kong, there are more choices. I think in the future, Chinese people will get to know all types of beer. Think about that huge market. Good for everyone.

[@prashantbohara1684]

I assume that most of Chinese prefer Corona, Heineken, Budweiser and some German beers but still these brands can't take over Tsingtao . And I like Anchor the most.

[@mrjmisme]

Wrong title! You're filming in Hongkong not China 😂 Get your facts right.

[@vencent8329]

same as âmerica too

[@madhuranand007]

Rohit Douger, why wont u export in ur own country ??

[@SidneyBeers]

I mean tsingtao is at least brewed according to german beer purity law...

[@bexy27]

Tsingtao❤️

[@Dumb-Comment]

No wonder why the cardboard boxes for beers always get moldy, they don't clean the can after the cans are being filled and splatters everywhere

[@luckylove72]

I would go there for vacation.

[@davidyang6074]

Hey Journalist, the pineapple beer is a soda, there isn't any alcohol. How do I know? Used to drink it everyday.

[@asdkotable]

Ehhhhhh it's got like a .05% alcohol content. As a super light-weight, still made me light-headed after one can.

[@davidyang6074]

@@asdkotable pretty sure it doesn't. Might be a psychological reaction.

[@asdkotable]

@@davidyang6074 you're probably right on the whole psychological effect, but I'm pretty sure that it has a miniscule 0.5% alcohol content. You can definitely argue that a fruit juice that has been left out too long probably has a higher alcohol content... But it is there. Or maybe it's the local version? Idk

[@davidyang6074]

@@asdkotable you're making me doubt myself. I know there's some materials used for brewing beer in this soda, but I remember checking the can and not seeing a mark for alcohol. You could be right that they might actually make different variations.

[@lesaustion]

@@davidyang6074 I'm not a expert and could be wrong, but my guess because that's how it works here in Canada, but to MUCH lower degree, but so long as the beverage has under a certain percentage of alcohol, it can be labeled "non-alcoholic" even though theres a small amount, i imagine the laws see slightly more lax in china for obvious reasons haha, so its possible it does, but very little?

[@rakeshningthoujam4461]

Is his pronounciation of Budweiser correct?

[@VarunKumar-qd5wl]

There's an Indian working in China beer company!

[@AkshanshV]

He was the founder, dude.

[@evilpimp2475]

China is right next to India... That's soooo weird....

[@jongascon7172]

In Spain we have cans from 0,40 €, as a data

[@rubenstrating]

I like Tsing Tao beer.

[@hiyukelavie2396]

Aka how to make the Chinese overpay for beer by branding

[@nathyrulz]

This is like when you known a person for a really long time but when you have a fight you call them a name similar to there’s just to annoy them. At the start of the video it says “HONG KONG” yet 10 seconds in the reporter calls it “CHINA” 😂. HK NOT CHINA