China brews over 3.31m tons of liquor in 2003
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-18 15:26

China produced more than 3.31 million tons of liquor in 2003, up 2.04 percent year on year, according to a meeting on national industrial development held Tuesday in this capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The sales income of liquor breweries in China totaled 54.532 billion yuan (US$6.57 billion), up 11.79 percent, the meeting announced.

A bottle of 'five grain' liquor is displayed in Beijing March 15, 2004. Wuliangye Group Co Ltd, China's largest liquor maker is diversifying away from its core business by planning to invest 100 million yuan ($12.06 million) to produce personal care products this year. [Reuters]

In terms of output, the top five provinces were Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan, each of which brewed more than 180,000 tons of liquor.

The liquor breweries net a total profit of 4.226 billion yuan, surging 31.45 percent, and contributed 9.274 billion yuan in tax, up 0.97 percent.

The Wuliangye Distillery Group in Yibin of Sichuan, and the Guizhou Moutai Distillery Group in Guizhou Province, remained the top two best-performing liquor producers in China in 2003, according to the meeting.

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