Under Crackdown on Speculation: Feitian Moutai Wholesale Price Falls Again to 1,560 Yuan, Scalpers Cautiously Watch and Focus on "Risk Control"

Recently, Moutai prices have experienced fluctuations again. After a brief rebound last week, the wholesale price of individual bottles of Feitian Moutai has fallen back to around 1,560 yuan per bottle. According to several liquor merchants and scalpers, this is mainly due to Moutai’s strategic adjustments, as well as the traditional off-season for Baijiu consumption after the Spring Festival, leading to weakened demand. The ongoing volatility has also caused channels to hold onto their stocks and adopt a cautious approach.

Since March, the wholesale price of Moutai has become more volatile. Data from third-party quotation platforms show that on March 10, the wholesale price of original box Puer Moutai dropped from 1,700 yuan per bottle at the beginning of the month to about 1,560 yuan per bottle, with individual bottles falling to 1,540 yuan. By March 14, the wholesale price of original boxes rebounded to 1,620 yuan per bottle, but in the past two days, prices have declined again.

A liquor merchant from Jiangsu told reporters that currently, the purchase price for individual bottles of Moutai in the local market is around 1,560 yuan per bottle, with fewer original box supplies, priced between 1,600 and 1,610 yuan per bottle. Recent price fluctuations are mainly influenced by the post-holiday off-season, with market demand significantly reduced. Tianjin liquor merchant Wang Wei also revealed that the off-season after the holiday arrived as expected this year, and liquor sales are notably quieter compared to previous years.

The unstable prices have made merchants and scalpers generally cautious. A scalper with many years of Moutai business experience told reporters that recent industry exchanges have been close, with a common focus on new changes in the “iMoutai” business model, which is believed to have broken the traditional operation methods. In the past, Moutai prices were controlled by a dealer monopoly, where distributors and middlemen could influence market supply by stockpiling, thus controlling prices. But now, the disorderly price fluctuations make it difficult even for experienced traders to predict the future market, leading everyone to pay more attention to risk management and hesitate to purchase easily.

According to reports, some regions have seen continued declines in Moutai buyback prices, with many areas’ wholesale buyback prices for individual bottles falling back to 1,500 yuan, indicating that there is no longer a premium for “iMoutai” flash sales of individual bottles.

Recently, channel sources have reported that Moutai has announced details of consignment policies for non-standard products such as boutique and zodiac series Moutai. Distributors are required to pay a deposit to qualify and must complete sales through the iMoutai platform, with prices uniformly set by the platform. Moutai will offer a 5% rebate as distributor profit, turning distributors into service providers. Industry analysts interpret this move as Moutai further strengthening its pricing power and reducing market speculation.

White liquor independent commentator Xiao Zhuqing believes that channel partners earn service fees, which are unrelated to the transaction price, thereby cutting off the manipulation of Moutai prices by channel merchants and scalpers to some extent.

It is worth noting that for a long time, Moutai’s guide price has had a significant gap with terminal market prices, which are often controlled by channels. As a new round of adjustments deepens, Moutai has shown effectiveness in curbing market speculation. However, some liquor merchants express concerns that while the new measures around “iMoutai” burst the channel bubble, removing the traditional “water reservoir” of channels, the market uncertainties brought by increased marketization still warrant ongoing attention.

(This article is from First Financial)