Interview: Who is actually buying baijiu in Australia?

Recently, Drinks Trade published this story exploring baijiu, the world’s most consumed spirit. In it, Moutai Australia's Brand and Marketing Manager Dan Zhao explains the category as a whole, including its different base malts, styles, and price points.

Given Moutai is the leading baijiu brand both domestically and internationally, Drinks Trade decided to reach out to Dan Zhao again to discuss exactly who is currently buying baijiu in Australia and how he plans to diversify Moutai’s customer base in the future.

Drinks Trade: How long has Moutai been in Australia and who is the target market?

Dan Zhao: We have been distributing Moutai in Australia for 21 years. The main market is Chinese and Asians: at this point, we have 90% Chinese customers… but we have this ambition to extend the brand awareness to the non-Chinese demographic, which is my focus this year.

That's also the reason why we have a cocktail competition. We just want to make and create more of a multicultural or a fusion format of Moutai and then present it to the non-Chinese community.

DT: How do aspects such as status, socioeconomic level, and demographic tie into baijiu and Moutai target markets

DZ: Well, for Moutai, it's a little bit different from other baijiu brands. I think Moutai as a liquor brand shares a lot of similarities with all other liquor brands across the world. We're targeting the higher net worth, wealthy demographic - not just Chinese, but in general - because Moutai by itself is highly collectible and also the experience that it can offer is really unique and different.

This Neo-demographic is really seeking something that's known, premiumized, unique and also multicultural, but that's something that Moutai can offer. Also, I think at this point it's really trendy for people to seek.

Even during the cocktail competition, in my conversations with a lot of bartenders, [they said] it felt like we'd already discovered all the spirits and we'd discovered all the flavours, but now there's Moutai. It feels like it's a big brand, but it's a missing piece in the landscape of spirits.

DT: How was industry reception to the Enter the Dragon 3 Comp?

DZ: Within the 24 hours of the competition, our media reach was about five million. We've got great feedback from the Chinese community, and also we have had a lot of approaches from bars and restaurants… This event is having some concrete impact that can actually help us to communicate with the non-Chinese market.

DT: Other than the competition, how else is Moutai planning to broaden its target market?

DZ: We are in the middle of planning our 2025 calendar, but according to our brand strategy for the next three years, we are going to create a lot of collaborations with celebrity chefs, high-end restaurants, and bars. At this point, we're working with Trippas Group, with Fink, and with other chefs individually, just to create some fusion experience and a high-end experience for our customers and also for the new market.

The one that's in planning is we're going to do a high-end sustainable dinner at the Opera House with Dan Hong. It's not announced yet, but this is a format that we're going to do much more of in the year 2025. More of a collaboration, culinary experience, food pairing, cocktails of course, and also the cultural tasting, which involves the ancient rituals and also the combination of professional spirit tasting and the traditional baijiu tasting.

It's really exciting that we are really talking to the key people in the industry… The next stage will be using the brand influence and talking more to the end consumers. The whole process has been really exciting.

DT: You mentioned in our last chat that Moutai is sourced from a small 15km region… Does that impact total production volumes and/or the allocation sent to Australia?

DZ: Yes. Moutai is definitely limited. If you ask any Chinese about Moutai: first, they would definitely recognise the brand; and second, everyone would tell you it's really hard to get a hold of a bottle, especially in China.

For international markets, especially Australia, we get an allocation, and it's very strict. What we're trying to do in Australia is to firstly introduce the brand to a broader market; and then secondly, by doing this we can potentially get a bigger allocation.

So two steps. By expanding the market, potentially we can get bigger allocation. But for us, at up to this point, it's always been sold out.

DT: Over recent years, more Chinese baijiu brands have entered Australia and there have even been some Australian producers making baijiu locally… Do you see the category continuing to grow? And if so, how much?

DZ: I'm definitely happy to see a lot of distributors in Australia doing this. In fact, in Australia, we grow a lot of sorghum - which is the main component/main grain for Baiju production - and we export a lot of sorghum to China for entry-level Baiju. Having a lot of distilleries producing Baiju in Australia is definitely healthy for this category/to grow it domestically.

DT: Do you see this increasing competition for Moutai?

DZ: For Moutai, there's no competition. I think that's something that, even for ourselves, we want to see more brands targeting different price points and different categories.

As there's more producers becoming involved in this category, and [with] Moutai being the leader of the category, [we are] becoming more influential.

DT: Can you explain the Moutai portfolio and how big of a role the Flying Fairy plays in Australian sales?

DZ: We've got an extensive portfolio. So if you talk about Moutai with Chinese, it's always directly linked to one signature SKU, which is called Feitian or Flying Fairy; that's the most iconic range… At this point, on the premium side, it takes most of the sales. People, especially the Chinese, recognise Moutai as a premium drink, so when they purchase, they prefer the expensive ones. The premium Moutai still probably takes about 90% of the sales.

We've also got a lot more other ranges… We've got a 30-year-old, 15-year-old, 80-year-old and we've also got other ranges like Jinh Pin and Zhenping, which is more expensive.

Also, apart from the iconic ranges and other premium ranges, we've also got entry-level Moutai, which is not under the appellation - that means that the grains being used to make this entry-level Mu Tai is not certified within that region, but it's produced according to the same procedure - and the price point is around $100. That's more suitable for new customers and on-premise businesses.

We also distribute other two major baijiu players in from China. So one is 1573, which is the Australia Open tennis sponsor, and… is ranked number three in China.

DT: How about target occasions? What’s similar and what’s different about baijiu consumption in Aus vs baijiu consumption in China?

DZ: Baijiu is a very common drink in China. Even now that the domestic market is very internationalised and there are many other [drinks] options, for baijiu, there's always a spot. When people drink baijiu [by itself], it's more often for family get-togethers and special occasions like weddings. It's a more celebrated drink.

For Moutai, it's slightly different… it's always prestigious. Moutai serves as an icon or as a symbol of social status in China. That's why people say there's always Moutai, and the others… In the business occasion, in the social occasion: a lot of time you have to have a baijiu or you have to have Moutai because that's a symbol, [but] I think that's something different. Even in Australia, when we drink with local Chinese, sometimes if you open a bottle of Moutai, they will recognise that they are respected.

There's a lot of domestic baijiu distilleries trying to create new forms of baijiu - like baijiu spritz and baijiu cocktails - and more trendy formats of baijiu packaging to attract younger demographics, so we see a lot of the young generations taking baijiu in, which is really encouraging because they are trying to enjoy the traditional drink in a more modern way.

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Moutai is imported into Australia by DMG Group as part of its Spirits of China portfolio.

To learn more about Moutai and baijiu, click here.