On October 22, 2026, Securities Daily, together with BOCI Securities, released the *2026 Report on the Development of the New Consumer Goods Industry*. The report identifies the shift toward lower-alcohol beverages as the most certain trend in alcohol consumption and notes that 83% of young people prefer alcoholic drinks with an alcohol content below 20%. This preference offers alcohol companies a direct reference point for understanding young consumers’ product needs.
The report also presents several data points on the alcohol industry: baijiu production fell to 3.549 million kiloliters in 2025, marking its ninth consecutive annual decline; the white wine market grew by a cumulative 28.6% over five years; the huangjiu market exceeded RMB 80 billion; and the alcohol instant retail market reached approximately RMB 50 billion. These figures relate respectively to production, individual product categories, and sales channels, and the changes they reflect need to be understood in the context of their respective measurement scopes.
How Lower-Alcohol Preferences Translate into Product Demand
The 83% preference rate primarily reflects young people’s inclination when choosing alcohol content. It cannot be equated directly with the sales share of low-alcohol beverages, nor does it mean that all low-alcohol products will achieve the same market performance. For alcohol companies, this signal may first affect new product development and product portfolios: whether to allocate more resources to drinks below 20% ABV, and whether these products can drive repeat purchases, are more specific business questions.
The consecutive decline in baijiu production and young people’s preference for lower-alcohol drinks are occurring at the same time, making changes in alcohol consumption patterns more worth watching. However, these figures alone do not show that lower-alcohol preferences directly caused the reduction in baijiu production, nor that the consumption decline has shifted to white wine or huangjiu. Changes in the size of the white wine and huangjiu markets likewise cannot be used as substitute indicators for growth in the low-alcohol market.
Category Shifts and Channel Growth Should Be Examined Separately
The alcohol instant retail market’s growth to approximately RMB 50 billion provides another indication of changes in sales channels. For brands and retailers, if demand for lower-alcohol drinks continues to grow, product assortment and supply alignment in instant retail channels may need to be adjusted. However, the overall size of instant retail does not indicate the share of lower-alcohol drinks within it. The relationship between channel growth and the shift toward lower-alcohol beverages still needs to be assessed against specific sales performance.
The clearest signal from the report is that alcohol content is becoming an important dimension for understanding young people’s preferences in alcoholic beverages. What will be more important to track going forward is whether this preference translates into actual purchases and repeat purchases, and whether performance is consistent across different categories and channels. These changes will determine the extent to which the shift toward lower-alcohol beverages affects the structure of alcohol products.