Chongqing Brewery posts growth amid market slowdown

Chongqing Brewery Company, a brewer based in Chongqing in Southwest China, achieved positive growth against the backdrop of a 7 percent drop in overall Chinese beer volumes in 2020, according to the company.

"The growth was made amid a challenging business environment last year, brought by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Roland Arthur Lawrence, chairman of Chongqing Brewery Company.

Lawrence made the remarks during a recent presentation of the company's annual results and profits distribution in 2020 and its market performance in the first quarter of this year in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

According to the annual report, the company recorded 2.4 million kiloliters in sales volume, representing a 3.3 percent year-on-year growth in 2020. Its operating revenue reached 10.94 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent last year.

Among the publicly listed national brewery companies that have issued their annual reports of last year, the Chongqing brewer was the only one that has achieved growth in all three key financial metrics, namely sales volume, revenue and profit.

The company maintained a strong momentum in business growth in the first quarter of 2021, with beer sales volume reaching 711,110 kiloliters, an increase of 53.4 percent year-on-year.

The company's operating revenue grew by 56.9 percent year-on-year to 3.27 billion yuan in the first three months of this year, according to statistics of the company.

The Chongqing brewer has become the only platform operating Carlsberg brewery's business in China and has transformed from a regional company into a national one, after it completed the major asset restructuring with Carlsberg China in December last year.

"The major asset restructuring enables Carlsberg and Chongqing Brewery to draw on each other's advantages and share resources, further enhancing our competitiveness and profitability and driving sustainable high-quality growth," said Lee Chee Kong, president of Chongqing Brewery Company.