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

Sina Finance’s “Liquor Price Insider” Launches with a Bang: Know the True Market Prices of Famous Baijiu

The disorderly fluctuations in prices make it difficult for even experienced traders to predict the market trend.

Recently, Moutai prices have shown renewed volatility. After a brief rebound last week, the wholesale price of flying sky Moutai bottles 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 and the fact that after the Spring Festival, Baijiu consumption enters the traditional off-season, leading to weaker demand. The ongoing fluctuations have also caused channels to hold onto their stock 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, with loose bottles falling to 1,540 yuan. By March 14, the wholesale price of original boxes rebounded to 1,620 yuan, but in the past two days, prices have declined again.

A liquor merchant from Jiangsu told reporters that currently, the local market’s purchase price for loose bottles of Moutai is around 1,560 yuan per bottle, with fewer original box supplies, priced between 1,600 and 1,610 yuan. 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 price instability has made liquor merchants and scalpers generally cautious. A scalper with many years of Moutai business experience told reporters that recent industry exchanges are close, with a focus on the new changes in Moutai’s “iMoutai” business model, which is believed to have broken the traditional operation methods. In the past, Moutai prices were controlled by a cartel-like pattern, where distributors and middlemen could influence market supply by stockpiling, thus controlling prices. But now, the disorderly price fluctuations make it hard for even seasoned traders to predict the future, leading everyone to pay more attention to risk control and hesitate to buy easily.

According to industry sources, the recycling price of Moutai in some regions continues to decline. Currently, the recycling price for loose bottles of Moutai in many areas has fallen back to 1,500 yuan per bottle, indicating that there is no longer any premium for loose bottles purchased through “iMoutai.”

Recently, channel feedback indicates that Moutai has announced detailed policies for consignment sales of non-standard products such as boutique and zodiac series Moutai. Distributors are required to pay a deposit to qualify and complete sales through the iMoutai platform, with prices uniformly set by the platform. Moutai will provide 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 path for channel merchants and scalpers to manipulate Moutai prices.

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 concern that the new measures around “iMoutai” have burst the channel bubble, but without the traditional “water reservoir” of channels, the market’s future uncertainties still warrant ongoing attention.