Renowned domestic liquor company Moutai said the drought will not affect production. Wang Zhide / For China Daily

Whilst many family-based enterprises in drought-stricken Guizhou have had to cease production, one of the country's leading liquor producers based there has managed to source enough water to continue production.

Chairman, Yuan Renguo, said that the company, Kweichow Moutai, draws water from Chishui River, which can meet its demand.

"We have spent millions to update our water project in recent years," he said.

"As long as the Chishui River is not parched, our production will not be affected."

The water in Chishui River is about two-thirds of its normal level.

Smaller liquor producers in Guizhou are less well equipped and have been forced to stop production as they rely heavily on wells for water.

Yuan remains confident about sales in the year ahead. Unlike other liquor, "it takes the company five years to make a bottle of Moutai," he said.

"Thus, the wine we are selling this year was actually produced five years ago."

Yuan said the company has increased its efforts to crack down on fake Moutai in the market.

As one of the best-known liquors in the country, Moutai has the most copycats.

The company has employed a special team of more than 100 people to combat fake producers, Yuan said.

Last year, a gang who made fake Moutai to export to South Korea was busted. The company is looking to expand internationally and plans are underway to establish a marketing network in France.

Yuan explained that just as the company has a marketing network in each Chinese province, there will be specialized personnel to manage and offer services for the local distributors in overseas markets.

"Although we previously had some distributors in overseas market, we did not have specialized personnel to manage these distributors," Yuan said.

The company will establish marketing networks in Russia, Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and Singapore within five years, he said.

Kweichow Moutai's sales in overseas markets last year reached more than 500 tons and the firm hopes to increase it by 100 tons this year. Currently, overseas sales of moutai account for 7 percent of total sales.

Meanwhile, the liquor producer plans to expand the domestic market through the upcoming Shanghai World Expo. During the five-month event, Kweichow Moutai will launch more than 80 new packaging designs, in accordance with the pavilions of different countries.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/20/2010 page15)