Moutai aims to be world's top liquor

Moutai, a top-grade spirit in China, aims to be the No 1 distilled liquor brand in the world, Ji Keliang, honorary board chairman and chief technical adviser at Guizhou Moutai Distillery Group, told China Daily on Monday.

Ji is confident that the widely recognized good quality, combined with the complicated manufacturing art and special flavor, of its products are the brand's unique advantages.

"We have already met some basic requirements," said Ji, 73, who has been with the wine giant for nearly 50 years. He became chairman of the group in 1998 and retired from the position last year.

The group's latest statistics showed that its sales volumes (tax included) topped 23.7 billion yuan ($3.76 billion), bringing in a total pre-tax profit of 17 billion yuan.

"The provincial government has raised some specific requirements for us recently and encouraged us to pursue better and faster development," he said. "So we have made some adjustments after conducting research."

According to Ji, the group aims to further increase its output of all wine products to about 100,000 tons by 2015, against about 60,000 tons in 2011. It will bring the group a sales income of 50 billion yuan.

"However, there is still much work to be done (to be the world's leading distilled wine maker)," said Ji, admitting that the sales volume of Moutai products in other countries is still quite limited and maybe even smaller than some less famous wines.

According to Ji, there are some factors which are hindering the export of Moutai products, especially the difference in alcohol drinking habits, such as preferences for alcoholic strength and flavor in other countries. The promotion and selection of dealers are also important, he said.

"It's about how to integrate the Chinese culture with foreign cultures," Ji said. "Anyway, we're going to move out toward our goal."

The corporation's strategy is to promote itself with the traditional Chinese culture, according to Ji.

"Much of China's 5,000 years of civilization have been integrated with wine," said Ji, who is also a top-level wine expert.

"So, instead of selling wine alone, we will combine our products with the Chinese culture when we're promoting it internationally."

As for increasing prices of top Chinese wines in recent years, Ji said both the makers and parties involved in marketing, distributing and selling should be disciplined and stop the products from having "luxurious" prices.