China’s top baijiu price basket returned to ¥10,800 after a ¥9 daily gain.

Average retail prices for a basket of China’s 12 leading baijiu brands rose slightly over the latest 24-hour tracking period, returning the group to the ¥10,800 level even as most individual labels in the index continued to weaken.

The basket, built from one bottle of each of the 12 reference products, was priced at ¥10,800 on Oct. 6, up ¥9 from the previous day, according to data published by Sina Finance’s Jiujia Neican at 8:49 a.m. local time. The gain was equal to 0.08%.

The increase broke a two-day decline and lifted the basket to its highest level in three days. But the move did not reflect a broad-based recovery across China’s premium baijiu market. Of the 12 references in the daily index, only five rose, six fell and one was unchanged. That split suggested the higher basket value was driven by a small number of stronger performances rather than by a general improvement in pricing.

Baijiu, China’s dominant distilled liquor category, is closely watched as a consumer and gifting indicator because premium labels often track corporate spending, holiday demand and broader confidence among affluent households. The latest reading points to a market that is still stabilizing unevenly.

Among the main gainers, Guojiao 1573 rose ¥5 to ¥882 per bottle. Gujing Gong Gu 20 added ¥4 to ¥552, reaching a 30-day high. Qinghua Fen 20 climbed to ¥413, extending its run of daily gains to five straight sessions.

Those advances helped offset weakness elsewhere in the basket. Feitian Moutai, the best-known and most closely watched product in the group, slipped ¥1 to ¥1,801 a bottle. Even with that decline, it remained above ¥1,800 for a 17th consecutive day, showing continued resilience at an important psychological price level.

The index tracks weighted average retail prices in China based on transaction data collected during the 24 hours before Oct. 6. Prices are reported in yuan per bottle, and the basket total is expressed in yuan for the combined set of 12 references.

The divergence between the higher headline basket figure and the weaker market breadth is significant because it suggests that recent firmness in top-end baijiu remains fragile. In practice, that means a few labels with modest gains can still lift the aggregate index even when more products are drifting lower.

That matters for how the market’s direction is interpreted. A rising aggregate figure can suggest improving conditions, but the underlying composition in this case shows that the recovery is narrow. With half the basket still falling and only five references advancing, the latest rebound does not yet amount to a broad turn in pricing across the premium segment.

The daily indicator used by Jiujia Neican is also subject to limits that make it different from a national sales measure. The index is based on about 200 collection points, including distributors, e-commerce channels and retailers. It is not an official nationwide sales statistic. The publisher does not disclose the number of bottles sold, total revenue or the individual weights assigned to each reference product inside the weighted basket.

Those constraints mean the daily moves are useful mainly as a snapshot of quoted and observed retail pricing, rather than a full picture of demand or actual consumption across China’s spirits market. Small changes in a few heavily weighted products can have an outsized effect on the basket, while the absence of volume data makes it difficult to judge whether prices are being supported by strong buying or by tighter supply and selective quoting.

The Moutai reading deserves additional caution because of a temporary disruption in one of the company’s sales channels. The iMoutai app and 43 company-operated stores remained closed on Oct. 6 for maintenance, a factor that could affect the visibility and comparability of Moutai quotations in the market on that day. Analysts and traders who use the daily index as a reference often watch such interruptions closely because Moutai pricing can influence sentiment across the broader high-end baijiu segment.

The latest figures therefore present a mixed picture. The basket recovered the ¥10,800 mark and interrupted two days of losses, but the internal pattern remained weak, with decliners outnumbering gainers and the overall move depending on a handful of stronger labels. That leaves the market still sensitive to shifts in a few flagship products, especially Moutai, Guojiao 1573 and other premium names that can pull the aggregate index higher even when the broader set of references is not moving in the same direction.

Sina Finance said the data reflected weighted retail prices from the 24-hour period before Oct. 6 in China’s market, drawing from its usual network of distributors, online platforms and stores. The publication of the figures on Tuesday came as traders continued to monitor whether holiday-related demand and post-holiday restocking would be enough to support premium baijiu prices after recent uneven trading.