Flying Moutai prices have recently declined, as a response from the market after Guizhou Moutai adjusted its factory price by 100 yuan (RMB, the same below), showing that the market is not buying it.
On March 31, Guizhou Moutai Co., Ltd. issued a “Significant Matters Announcement”. The announcement stated: “Since March 31, 2026, the sales contract price of Flying Heaven 53% vol 500ml Guizhou Moutai (2026) has been adjusted from 1169 yuan/bottle to 1269 yuan/bottle, and the retail price in the self-operated system has been adjusted from 1499 yuan/bottle to 1539 yuan/bottle.”
With the wholesale price increasing by 100 yuan, the official guidance retail price of Flying Moutai in the self-operated system has been raised from 1499 yuan/bottle to 1539 yuan/bottle, an increase of about 2.7%.
After the news spread, the retail price of Flying Moutai quickly rose. According to a report by Beijing Jinding Xingyao Cultural Media Co., Ltd.’s “Fast Horse Finance” on April 9, the actual market circulation price of Flying Moutai in 2026 soared to as high as 1750 yuan/bottle. However, the good times didn’t last long, as shortly after the price spike, it quickly dropped back down, with the real supply and demand dynamics taking the lead.
Data from third-party quoting platforms such as “Today’s Liquor Price” show that in early April 2026, the price of bottled Flying Moutai turned downward, falling to around 1560 yuan/bottle, with actual transaction prices in some areas even touching as low as 1550 yuan per bottle. This price not only wiped out the price increase announced earlier but even dropped nearly 100 yuan below the pre-increase price of 1650 yuan.
Regarding the phenomenon of “factory price up by 100, market price down by 100”, “Fast Horse Finance” believes that Flying Moutai’s divergent behavior directly challenges the one-way logic of “raising prices to stabilize the market”. When the manufacturer raises prices during the off-season to “rescue the market,” the market interprets it as: “Even Moutai feels the need to rely on price increases to stabilize expectations, indicating that there is really a problem with terminal sales.” Once this reverse thinking spreads among scalpers, collectors, and distributors, it triggers price reductions for the purpose of liquidity repatriation. Secondly, Guizhou Moutai’s attempt to convey confidence through price increases has not received substantial responses from other well-known liquor brands. Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, and other liquor companies have not followed suit with price hikes. This situation of “Moutai raising prices while peers wait and see” has rendered Moutai’s efforts to stabilize the market through price hikes fruitless. Furthermore, the sluggish macroeconomic environment in China, coupled with changes in consumer structure, has led to deep-seated reasons why the market is not buying into Moutai’s price increase. Under the dual pressure of consumer downgrading and intergenerational consumption shifts, simply raising factory prices has become increasingly difficult to stimulate the real demand at the end of the market.