On January 5, the high-profile Kweichow Moutai baijiu (Year of the Snake) was officially unveiled, which marks that since 2014, when Kweichow Moutai first released the Horse Year zodiac commemorative baijiu, the Moutai Zodiac baijiu series has been carefully built for 12 years, and finally completed the first zodiac cycle.

It is worth noting that at this milestone moment, the industry's eyes are more focused on a key question: after completing the first round of zodiac series, will Moutai continue to launch such products?

Interestingly, the answer to this question, from dealers and experts, shows a very different perspective: dealers generally do not want manufacturers to continue to issue a new round of products, the reason is direct and practical - no money.

A Beijing dealer said frankly in an interview with a reporter from China Wine News that at present, consumers' recognition of some years of zodiac baijiu is not high, especially the version of the year of the dragon and the Year of the snake, and the market performance is bleak, resulting in dealers have begun to lose money.

From the feedback information of the channel, although the Maotai zodiac baijiu in the past 11 years, the guide price has shown a gradual upward trend - from the initial 1,499 yuan/bottle, gradually increased to 1,699 yuan/bottle of "rat grass" in 2019, and then to 2,499 yuan/bottle of "bull grass" in 2021, showing the development trajectory of volume and price, but the latest baijiu price data shows that, The actual market price and value curve is not moving as well as expected.

Specifically, in the existing 11 Maotai zodiac baijiu, the most expensive is the Year of the Sheep zodiac Maotai, the market wholesale price is as high as 25,200 yuan/bottle; Followed by the Year of the horse zodiac Moutai, the price of 15,500 yuan/bottle; Next comes Moutai, the Year of the Monkey, at 3,800 yuan a bottle; The Year of the pig zodiac Moutai is 3,150 yuan/bottle; Moutai, the Chinese zodiac for the Year of the Rat and the Year of the tiger, is priced at 3,050 yuan per bottle; The rooster year animal Moutai is slightly lower, at 2,950 yuan per bottle; The Year of the dog zodiac Moutai is 2,900 yuan/bottle; Moutai, the animal of the Year of the ox, costs 2,850 yuan per bottle. It is worth noting that the market wholesale price of the Rabbit Year Moutai is 2,680 yuan/bottle, while the Dragon Year Moutai launched last year has the lowest price at 2,635 yuan/bottle.

Such a price distribution not only reflects the scarcity and collection value of each zodiac Moutai in the market, but also reveals the difference in consumer preferences for products of different years. At the same time, this also shows that despite the stable position of Moutai Zodiac baijiu as a high-end collectible, its market performance is still affected by a variety of factors, including but not limited to supply and demand, brand strategy and market speculation.

In contrast, experts are surprisingly unanimous that Moutai will continue to roll out new products. Their reason is equally straightforward and powerful -- to make money. Although the products in some years are cold in the market, on the whole, such products still bring significant economic benefits to Moutai.

Public data show that the total market wholesale price of these 12 zodiac Moutai has exceeded 70,000 yuan, and before the release of 2024 Longmao, the revenue scale of Moutai Zodiac baijiu has exceeded 30 billion yuan.

"Moutai distillery is likely to continue to release zodiac commemorative baijiu. Such products are estimated to generate billions of dollars in annual sales for Moutai. Although other cultural and creative products, such as the solar term series, have not attracted wide attention, the zodiac souvenir baijiu as an important performance growth point for Moutai, Moutai may not only continue to produce, but also consider upgrading these products to maintain market appeal." Zeng Yu, the famous aged liquor collection expert and founder of Zeng Pintang, said in an interview with a reporter from Huashia Baijiu News that although dealers hope Moutai will stop issuing new zodiac baijiu in order to enhance the collection value of the existing zodiac set, from Moutai's point of view, zodiac baijiu is only one of many products, and in the face of such a considerable source of income, Moutai naturally is not willing to give up easily. How else do you make up for lost performance?

"Eventually, the product will come out by magic." Zeng Yu said.