Baijiu is the world’s largest spirits category, and it’s not even a close competition. Estimated annual consumption volume figures vary widely, but it’s generally agreed that in excess of 10 billion litres are consumed each year. That’s roughly nine times more than Scotch.

According to Statista, in 2023, the category had a market share of more than 90% of China’s spirit market. Euromonitor found that producers sold roughly $167bn in the domestic market that year – that’s more than the GDP of Kuwait.

Despite the incomprehensible enormity of its popularity within China, it’s never made much of an impact overseas. According to the China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries, less than 1% of production makes it abroad. Historically, with such a large established consumer base, there’s been very little financial motivation in pursuing the export market. That attitude is slowly changing. Cheng International imports and distributes Fenjiu to the UK using a trade-focused, educationally led strategy. “In terms of trade, Cheng International is leading Fenjiu’s international export,” says Qiqi Chen, managing director at Cheng International.

“The systematic education of the category that we’ve developed has been key to that.”

What’s also key is the product. Baijiu is split into a dozen aroma categories, the most popular being strong aroma, but Chen argues that the intensity of strong aroma baijiu can make it a difficult first step. “Fenjiu is a light aroma baijiu which is the best style to start people on,” explains Chen.

“It’s like introducing someone to cheese who’s never had cheese before. You want to start with something light and slowly climb up the ladder. On a one-to-one basis it might be fine, but when we’re talking about systematic education, light aroma is always the right introduction.

“The style also sets the foundation for all of baijiu production. Fenjiu is the most representative brand of light aroma and it’s the oldest baijiu brand in China, so as an educational starting point, it ticks so many boxes for promoting the whole category.”

Category decline

The domestic baijiu market is changing. The IWSR predicts a compound annual growth rate decline of 4% between 2022 and 2027. The declines appear to be driven by trends among younger consumers who are showing a preference for lower-strength options such as beer. A 2025 report by NIQ found that 52% of consumers in China were motivated to drink less for health reasons – the highest proportion in the region.

“Baijiu consumption [in China] has always been dynamic; it’s constantly changing,” says Cheng. It’s like shochu in Japan – traditionally, it’s consumed neat as a shot, but younger generations aren’t drinking neat spirits in the same way.

“That said, the neat consumption of baijiu is still there. It’s very connected to business, politics and specific occasions. China is a big country; just because some of the younger generation are drinking craft beer and cocktails doesn’t mean baijiu is out of the way.

“Our decision to bring baijiu to the west isn’t because baijiu’s market is changing in China; it’s because baijiu is so misunderstood in the western world. For Cheng International, it’s our mission that we want to introduce the category correctly. It’s such a shame that a spirit that represents a whole country is so misunderstood or hasn’t been discovered by the rest of the world, so that's why we're taking it into our hands. What we export is education.”

Generally, the on-trade makes for the ideal avenue for the unfamiliar. In the hands of an educated bartender, a guest can receive the invaluable addition of context with their drink.

“I’ve been working in the hospitality industry for quite a while, so we understood how, with bringing any new, international product to the local market, the best way to introduce it is to incorporate it into the local lifestyle,” says Chen.

“I understood how people learn to eat and drink new things, and I’ve applied the same logic to the introduction of baijiu. Our strength is in following people’s lifestyles and patterns. It’s like using the English language to tell a Chinese story.”