Baijiu, China’s most popular liquor, has been consumed within the country for centuries, but it remains largely unknown in Europe. Despite producing over 6.7 billion liters of baijiu in 2022, China only exports a tiny fraction of its total production, and baijiu is still a niche product in the European market.
On Saturday, China Alcoholic Drinks Association (CADA) signed an agreement with Paragraph, a company dedicated to providing services within the drinks sector, to increase baijiu exports to Europe. The head of the delegation, Yuan Yue, emphasized the cultural differences in drinking habits between Chinese and Westerners, highlighting the need for Chinese baijiu producers to tell the story of baijiu well to boost its exports.
To diversify their products and target young people and international consumers, Chinese authorities proposed that baijiu producers experiment with mixing baijiu with fruit to create cocktails. David Valentine, the chairman of Valentine International Business Connections, a bridge builder between the UK and China, believes that presenting baijiu in a different way to Europeans will be key to its success in the European market.
