A friend of Mir Global just dropped me an email with a link to this video, shot earlier in the month when Mir Global Marketing was coincidentally in Beijing presenting our wines.
Linda Kennedy of the China Daily takes a trip to Chateau Changyu, one of China’s most recognizable domestic wine brands (Great Wall is another which comes to mind). It’s also a common sight to anyone who has spent thirty minutes watching CCTV9 during the past 6 months, where a commercial from the vineyard is constantly aired and makes the vineyard out to seem “world class.”
Perhaps it looks world class and has the big bucks to get a one year advertisement slot on CCTV9 (China’s English language channel), but according to the wine experts of Beijing, Jim Boyce and John Gai, and also my own palate, this vineyards wine is nothing special.
Watch the video and decide for yourself if you’ve been convinced to dish out $50-70 usd on a fine bottle of Chinese Cabernet Sauvignon is really worth it?
Research and Markets: Revealing the Impact the Global Financial Crisis Has Had on China’s Food and Beverage Industry
In the fist half of 2009, China above-scale food industry accumulatively achieved RMB2.299 trillion of total output value, up 14.76% compared to the same period of last year, of which, the agricultural non-staple food processing industry’s rose 15% to RMB1260.646 billion, the food processing industry’s increased 14.55% to RMB407.909 billion, and the beverage manufacturing industry’s rose 18.92% to RMB348.186 billion.
Impacted by the global financial crisis, the food and beverage industry’s operating revenue changed from rapid growth momentum to downturn in H2 2008. During Jan-Feb 2009, the revenue of the overall food and beverage industry increased only 14% year on year, 23 points lower than that of Jan-Feb 2008, recording new low in recent years. The growth rate in Jan-May 2009 rebounded a little to 15%.
In the past several years, the operating revenue of the food processing industry, one sub-industry of the whole food and beverage industry, has grown faster than that of the other two sub-industries, food manufacturing and beverage manufacturing. Due to the price decline of meat products (mainly pork), the food manufacturing industry rebounded slowly during the financial crisis, while the beverage manufacturing industry showed certain decline-resistance ability, whose operating revenue rebounded steadily during Jan-May 2009, up 16% year on year, 1 point higher than the figure in Jan-Feb 2009 and higher than the average level of the whole food and beverage industry. Taking Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd for example, its liquor output in H1 2009 was 23,833 tons, up 35.9% year on year; its sales revenue went up 20% to RMB5.5 billion and net profits rose 25% to RMB2.8 billion.
In H1 2009, the high-alcohol Moutai liquor products took 84.27% of the company’s operating revenue, while the low-alcohol liquor products accounted for 9.63%.
Based on the authoritative statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the China National Food Industry Association, China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association, Dairy Association of China, etc, this report makes an in-depth analysis of the status quo of China’s food and beverage industry and its influencing factors, giving priority to the analysis and research of its eight sub-industries on market scale, industry concentration, regional distribution, economic benefits, production & sales as well as growth space. Besides, It also predicts the future development trends of the industry.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Food and Beverage Classification and Research Scope 2 Development of China Food and Beverage Industry 3 Segmented Industries 4 Regional Development 5 Key Listed Companies 6 Development Trends and Prospect of China Food and Beverage Industry
Mir Global Marketing LLC has completed it’s summer tour of China, and what a journey is has been! What do we have to report? Well, quite a bit. Since it is too much to compile into one simple blog entry, I have decided to begin with some travel advice and general words of wisdom about doing business in China.
July 13 — New York City –> Beijing (12.5 hours on Continental’s direct flight.) Highly recommend anyone traveling to China from the New York City area and not obligated to any specific carrier book their ticket on this flight. You save between 4-8 hours in additional travel time / transfer time at airports. You do not risk missing a connecting flight, and the service on the plane is quite good for a US owned airline. The one negative side is the cranky American flight attendants, which you do not find if you’re traveling JAL, Cathay, Asiana, etc.
Arrival in Beijing was quick and easy. Customs allowed me to pass with more wine than I was probably legally allowed to bring, I recovered from jet lag quite fast and was out on the town showcasing our wines from Chile and Argentina by my second night.
After reconvening with Xu Wenquan, Mir Global Marketing’s director of sales in China/ Asia we set out a game plan for how to best approach diverse selection of potential buyers / contacts. We would need to fine tune our marketing strategy for three different market segments.
- Chinese government owned entities.
- Chinese entrepreneurs / business owners of bars and night clubs which cater China’s rising middle and upper class. In other words, the sons and daughters of wealthy Chinese who are looking to make a name for themselves and are have chosen to start a business. Not with the goal of attracting foreign customers (although they would not object), bur rather China’s new consumers looking for a good time and some nice drinks.
- Western operated and privately owned establishments in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These type of businesses cater to China’s trendy, diverse, metropolitan cultures. I define this group as a mix of foreigners and urban Chinese you would find at a popular bar in a major city like Beijing.
Now, I present a few words of wisdom for those considering to do business in China. These are my own opinions, and I welcome those who would like to discuss any of these points. Please add your comments below or drop me a email, bennett.reiss (at) gmail.com
1. The more interaction you have with China, and the longer you stay, the more you realize how little you truly know and understand the country. Don’t think a mere semester or two of studying in China, speaking Chinese, reading books about “doing business in China,” foreign policy or cultural communication classes make you a expert. They do not.
2. What you learned in business school will not necessarily apply in China. You must cautiously and selectively archive into the back of your mind what you have come to accept as common business practices. What you learned in all those over-priced business classes will usually not apply in China. This is especially true when dealing with Chinese partners, be it from the private sector or a government owned entity.
3. Smile. Even if you are impatient, frustrated, mentally a mess, cranky, jet lagged, suffering from heart break, or angry with life itself… Smile and put a face that mixes happy, calm and confident all in one. The moment you allow what you have bottled up inside to show, vis-à-vis body language or with words, you have lost the battle. You will fail at negotiating a cheaper hotel, you will fail to convince your taxi driver to take the shorter route and you will fail in business negotiation. A calm, collected persona and a smile go a long way in China. Remember this.
4. Keep an open mind and remain flexible as to adapt to any given situation you face. It is popular in western cultures to look for a logical explanation for something you do not understand or a problem you may face. Westerners also tend to believe it is possible to control things like your schedule. Many times in China, there is no logical answer, and controlling things is quite difficult when you are operating in a country as complex and large as China. Accept this now, before you lose your mind, and therefore compromise all the elements I described above in point #3.
5. Dress to impress if you’re doing business. Even if its hot and humid, put on that suit and leave the tie and jacket behind. As they say, you only get one first impression. When you’re dealing with a Chinese businessman/ woman, it is incredibly important to do all in your power to make your first meeting as professional as possible.
** Reminder to all readers, opinions expressed in this entry are my own and should be not treated as fact. Thank you.
~ Bennett Reiss – International Trade Consultant at Mir Global Marketing LLC
Welcome to Mir Global Marketing’s blog, Globowines!
~~ Click here ~~ to visit our company website. Our current catalog includes new wines are from Argentina and Chile, which have have been especially chosen for the China and Singapore market
