Tsingtao beer to cash in on SCO ties

QINGDAO - Tsingtao Brewery is eyeing business expansion across members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Tsingtao Brewery is the iconic business of Qingdao, the host city of the SCO upcoming 18th summit.

Chu Liangjing, vice-president of Tsingtao Brewery's overseas sales department, said strengthening economic and trade ties between China and other SCO members were set to bring more business opportunities to Tsingtao beer and the city.

Chu said the firm had set a sales growth target of 20 percent for 2018 in Kazakhstan. Last year, sales in the Central Asian country surged 102 percent.

Tsingtao beer now has more than 3,000 sales outlets in Kazakhstan after it entered the country in 2006.

Tsingtao beer was the top selling Asian beer brand in many SCO member countries. Its sales in Russia soared 78 percent in 2017.

Sales in the SCO observer Mongolia and SCO dialogue partner Nepal rose 49 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

Overseas sales of Tsingtao beer rose 18 percent last year. It has entered 37 countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Many foreign tourists in Qingdao told Xinhua that they drank Tsingtao before they came to know Qingdao, the eastern coastal city dubbed China's "beer capital."

As the SCO summit approaches, beer vending machines have been installed in many hotels, and visitors can more easily get a taste of the draft Tsingtao beer.

Barrels of draft beer are also on sale in department stores and restaurants in neighborhoods across the city as many local beer lovers buy a couple of liter and to bring home.

The city holds an international beer festival in August each year, attracting 1,000 beer products from over 20 beer brands and millions of tourists from home and abroad.