China's alcohol industry down in revenue in first 4 months

BEIJING - China's alcohol enterprises saw a total revenue of 249.7 billion yuan ($35.19 billion) in the first four months, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The reading was down by 8.59 percent compared with the same period last year, the ministry said.

During the period, the profits of alcohol makers dropped by 4.56 percent year-on-year to reach 53.6 billion yuan, the ministry said.

Chinese liquor-making enterprises saw their output reach nearly 604,000 kiloliters in April, down by 2.44 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, the output of breweries totaled 3.1 million kiloliters, a 7.46-percent increase from a year ago.

The output of winemaking companies gained 24.11 percent year-on-year to 33,000 kiloliters in April.