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Guyuelongshan profit up in 2008, sales down

By Ding Qingfen (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-19 16:17

Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co Ltd (Guyuelongshan), China's largest yellow rice wine producer by output volume, announced that its profit for 2008 rose by 4.45 percent year-on-year to 122.77 million yuan ($17.86 million), despite the fact that corporate sales fell by 8.23 percent to 747.81 million yuan.

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The profit was mainly attributed to the company's efforts to cut costs and raise price in the past year. In mid-2008, Guyuelongshan spun off the spandex business that generated sales worth 179.38 million yuan in 2007, which led to the falling corporate sales.

Last year, the business of yellow rice wine generated sales worth 724.65 million yuan, accounting for 97 percent of the total.

With its business more focused on yellow rice wine, the company predicted its sales for 2009 would rise by 11 percent to 800 million yuan.

The yellow rice wine industry has been less negatively affected by the financial crisis than that of liquor, wine and beer. Last year, the output volume of yellow rice wine grew by 10.9 percent, and during the first two months of 2009, the figure was 12.8 percent. Analysts predicted the output volume will grow by 10 to 15 percent this year.