Chongqing Brewery lost about 55,000 kiloliters of beer sales in the second quarter

Chongqing Brewery reported a sharp drop in beer sales in the second quarter, losing about 55,000 kiloliters during a period that is usually one of the strongest for seasonal consumption in China.

In its corporate report released on Aug. 19, the company said sales volume for April through June fell 5.95% from a year earlier to 862,700 kiloliters. Based on that decline rate, the comparable volume in the same quarter of 2025 was about 917,300 kiloliters, which implies a loss of roughly 54,600 kiloliters. The absolute change is an approximation because it is derived from rounded percentage figures disclosed by the company.

The second-quarter decline marked a clear reversal from the start of the year. Chongqing Brewery had posted a 0.34% increase in sales volume in the first quarter. After the weaker April-to-June period, first-half sales volume fell 2.87% to 1.7492 million kiloliters. That left the company about 51,700 kiloliters below its first-half level a year earlier, again based on calculations using rounded percentages.

The decline in volume was followed by weaker financial results. First-half revenue fell 2.98% to 8.576 billion yuan, or about 263 million yuan less than in the same period of 2025. Profit fell faster than revenue, dropping 7.98% to 796 million yuan. The figures point to pressure not only on volume but also on profitability during the first six months of 2026.

The company’s product mix shows where the weakness was concentrated. Revenue from its high-end portfolio slipped 1.53% to 5.185 billion yuan in the first half. The biggest decline came from the mid-priced segment, where revenue fell 5.69% to 2.966 billion yuan. Only the economy segment posted growth, rising 3.17%. That pattern suggests consumers were more cautious in the middle of the market, while lower-priced products provided the only area of expansion.

The performance is notable because the deterioration was concentrated in the second quarter, when warmer weather and social activity usually support higher beer demand in China. A weak April-to-June showing can carry more weight than a similar decline at other times of the year because it affects the main drinking season. For Chongqing Brewery, the quarter erased the modest volume gain recorded earlier in the year and pushed the first-half totals into decline.

The company’s results also contrast with the broader picture presented by some of its domestic peers in recent first-half disclosures. According to market coverage published by CNR and citing Jiemian News, China Resources Beer and Yanjing both reported first-half growth, making Chongqing Brewery’s slowdown stand out more clearly. That comparison does not describe the entire Chinese beer market, but it does show that the pressure reported by Chongqing Brewery was not uniform across all major brewers.

Chongqing Brewery’s first-half revenue data suggest that demand softened across more than one price band, even though the premium category did not fall as sharply as the mid-range business. The smaller drop in high-end revenue may indicate some resilience among consumers with stronger purchasing power, while the rise in economy products points to value-seeking behavior. At the same time, the steeper fall in profit than in revenue suggests that the company faced a less favorable operating environment, which can reflect pricing pressure, higher costs, or a weaker sales mix.

The company’s disclosed figures cover January through June and include the key second-quarter period from April through June. The report analyzed in current media coverage was published on Aug. 19, and the secondary account cited by CNR appeared on Aug. 22 through a reproduction of Jiemian News. The calculations for lost volume and other absolute changes are based on the reported percentage changes and should be read as approximate because the original percentages were rounded.

For investors and industry watchers, the main issue in Chongqing Brewery’s latest report is not only that first-half sales, revenue, and profit all moved lower, but that the sharpest weakness appeared during the quarter when beer demand is usually expected to improve. The second quarter delivered a 5.95% drop in volume, while the six-month period ended with a 2.87% decline in sales, a 2.98% fall in revenue, and a 7.98% drop in profit, according to the company’s filing.