Chinese liquor Wuliangye vows to expand sales in South Korea

[Courtesy of Wuliangye Group]

The producer of Wuliangye, one of China's top three high-end liquors, vowed Thursday to expand its presence in South Korea as part of its global strategy of increasing sales abroad.

Wuliangye Group CEO Liu Zhongguo said in an interview in Seoul that the state-controlled company, based in Yibin in China's southwestern province of Sichuan, would invest more in marketing and sales in South Korea because its latent purchasing power is great.

"South Korea is still not a big market but we put great stress on its market potential," he said, adding Chinese and South Korean consumers share a similar drinking culture.

Wuliangye, favored by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, is a traditional liquor which appeared first in Sichuan more than 650 years ago. It is distilled from kaoliang, barley, sticky rice, rice and corn. Such drinks are categorized as "baijiu (strong alcohol)".

In 2015, the sales volume of China’s three most popular high-end liquors, which also include Moutai and Luzhoulaojiao, recovered to levels seen in 2012 despite a cut in their budget. Wuliangye's brand value has surged to about 13 trillion won last year.

Helped by an active sales campaign by Chinese leaders, the Chinese companies are seeking bigger sales abroad. Liu said Wuliangye would also get "deeper" into overseas markets to globalize its brand.

Wuliangye has been sold in 65 countries, but exports account for 10 percent of its total sales. It was introduced in South Korea from the late 1990s, but sales have been relatively small, compared to Moutai and Luzhoulaojiao.

From now, Liu said his group would host a series of promotion events for its high-end brands and invest more in marketing in South Korea. "I want to introduce Wuliangye's high-end products in South Korea, which shares a similar culture with China especially in drinking."

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Chinese liquor Wuliangye vows to expand sales in South Korea

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