Tsingtao to market low-end beer in Beijing
beer brands to make it on to the international market, has
announced that it is about to start marketing a low-end beer in
Beijing. The move is significant as competitor Yanjing already
sells a low-end beer there.
Tsingtao is known as a producer of premium beer, but has taken the decision to market the low-end beer in a bid to tap into what is by far the largest market by volume in the country. According to a report from the China Daily, the beer will be launched in Beijing over the course of the next few weeks.
Tsingtao's regional manager, Sui Zhanping, says the beer will be competitively priced at CNY2 - 3 (18 - 30 euro cents) a bottle, adding that the beer has been priced marginally above the competition as part of the company's policy.
Premium beers are on average five to six times the price of low-end beers and, although lucrative, do not command big enough market volumes to command significant returns.
Sui added that the launch strategy aims to tap into a market that until now has been dominated by Yanjing in Beijing. Yanjing is believed to command around 90 per cent of the low-end beer market in Bejing, China's most populace city. Currently the city's beer drinkers consume between 600,000 to 650,000 tons of low-end beer annually.
Sui also told newspaper reporters that he expects Tsingtao's low-end beer to command a 20 per cent slice of the market in Beijing by 2008. Initially the launch will be driven by targeting small retail outlets and restaurants.
