Zhujiang Beer reports lower third-quarter profit in China’s peak summer selling season

Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Co., known as Zhujiang Beer, reported weaker third-quarter results during China’s peak beer-selling season, with profit and sales volume both falling even as the company sold its beer at higher prices.

In an unaudited quarterly filing released Oct. 23 through CNINFO, the disclosure platform for Chinese listed companies, the brewer said third-quarter revenue slipped 0.10% from a year earlier to 1.87369 billion yuan. Net profit attributable to shareholders fell 4.64% to 316.38 million yuan, a decline of about 15.38 million yuan from the same period last year.

Beer sales volume in the quarter was about 458,600 metric tons, down roughly 2.3% year over year, according to an Oct. 24 analysis by International Financial News that was reproduced by the financial portal Eastmoney. The company’s quarterly filing did not break out that volume figure in the same way, but the analysis used the regulated report and market calculations to assess the quarter’s operating trend.

The third quarter is especially important for brewers because it includes the summer months, when beer consumption is usually strongest. For Zhujiang Beer, the latest figures show that higher selling prices and product mix were no longer enough to fully offset lower shipment volumes and rising costs.

For the first nine months of 2026, the company still posted growth. Zhujiang Beer said beer sales from January through September rose 0.44% to 1.2087 million metric tons. Revenue increased 3.14% to 5.23232 billion yuan, an absolute gain of 159.30 million yuan. Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 4.87% to 990.02 million yuan. That left the company with positive year-to-date growth even after the weaker summer quarter.

The difference between the quarterly and nine-month numbers points to a loss of momentum later in the year. Earlier gains from premium products and pricing appear to have continued in the year-to-date figures, but the third quarter suggests those factors were under more pressure as the market entered its busiest selling period.

International Financial News said revenue per metric ton rose about 2.2% in the third quarter, showing that Zhujiang Beer was still selling at a higher average price. At the same time, cost per metric ton increased 4%, and gross margin fell by 0.9 points to 50.1%. Those unit trends help explain why revenue was almost flat while profit fell more sharply. They also suggest that cost inflation and competitive pressure absorbed much of the benefit from higher pricing.

Zhujiang Beer is one of China’s main regional brewers and is particularly tied to Guangdong and the broader South China market. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Its shares are listed in Shenzhen. In 2025, it sold 1.4624 million metric tons of beer and posted revenue of 5.878 billion yuan.

That regional concentration remains central to how investors and analysts read its results. In the first half of 2026, 95.62% of Zhujiang Beer’s revenue came from South China, according to the company’s disclosures. That means shifts in consumer demand, restaurant and bar traffic, and local pricing competition in Guangdong and nearby provinces can have an outsized effect on its earnings.

The company’s latest report therefore carries broader significance beyond a single quarter’s profit change. A drop in volume, revenue and profit during the strongest part of the year can be read as a sign of softer consumption or tougher competition in one of China’s biggest regional beer markets. Because Zhujiang Beer is so heavily exposed to the south of the country, its results offer a close view of conditions in that market.

The official filing provides the primary figures for revenue, profit and year-to-date sales. The third-quarter volume figure, as well as the estimates for revenue per metric ton, cost per metric ton and gross margin movement, came from the International Financial News analysis reproduced by Eastmoney and were based in part on securities firms’ calculations from the company’s report.

Zhujiang Beer did not signal any major change to its market footprint in the filing, but the numbers show a quarter in which pricing held up better than demand and costs rose faster than average selling prices. For a brewer whose business is concentrated in South China, that combination left the busiest period of the year weaker than the cumulative performance for the first nine months would suggest.