A self-assembled counterfeit Moutai liquor, created by a reporter, was authenticated as genuine by the anti-counterfeiting team of Moutai Company in Wuhan, sparking attention.
According to a report on the Henan Broadcasting and Television Urban News Video on June 20th, the self-assembled counterfeit Moutai liquor for the Year of the Rabbit utilized a complete set of Moutai packaging sourced from an e-commerce platform, which was then sent to the Moutai company for authentication. The anti-counterfeiting team of Moutai Company in Wuhan confirmed it as authentic after inspection.
Following the exposure of this incident, Guizhou Moutai Liquor Sales Co., Ltd. dispatched a special service team to Zhengzhou, Henan (the location of the customer) on June 21st. With the customer’s consent obtained, a on-site appraisal team composed of a senior visual appraisal expert and a national liquor judge carried out an assessment on June 22nd at 9 a.m., evaluating the appearance and content of the products. The appraisal results revealed that the product’s outer packaging was made of recycled and counterfeit materials, and the liquor inside did not match the style of the 53% vol 500ml Guizhou Moutai liquor (Rabbit Year), indicating it was a counterfeit product.
Afterwards, Guizhou Moutai Liquor Sales Co., Ltd. stated: “Through an internal investigation by Guizhou Moutai Liquor Sales Co., Ltd., during the appraisal processes on May 11th and May 18th, appraisers Cai and Chen displayed issues of careless and lax operations, reflecting weaknesses in the company’s product appraisal process management.”
The reason professional appraisers mistakenly identified counterfeit liquor as genuine was explained by an industry insider who has been in the vintage liquor recycling business for years. He told the Daily Economic News that most counterfeit liquors on the market, especially high-quality counterfeits, utilize genuine packaging materials obtained through various channels that can be purchased online. By resealing the “real bottles” with “fake liquor” inside through removing caps or drilling holes, these products are classified as genuine when sent for appraisal, as only the packaging is examined, not the liquor content. Ultimately, the veracity can only be determined by consumption.
However, Mr. Xie, responsible for testing at Zhongjiu Inspection, told the Daily Economic News that liquor merchants authenticate the appearance of products to facilitate secondary circulation and sales. Opening bottle caps for content evaluation would undermine the original intent of appraisal. The assessment of the liquor content is only necessary in cases of disputes or uncertainties during appearance authentication. To achieve a “counterfeit-free world,” manufacturers need to enhance anti-counterfeiting technologies and actively crackdown on counterfeit production.
An industry observer in the liquor sector outlined the current methods of counterfeiting Moutai liquor to China Business Network: firstly, removing the caps of authentic bottles to place on counterfeit bottles, with counterfeiters refilling authentic bottles with counterfeit liquor before resealing; secondly, using specialized equipment to drill holes on the bottle’s body, drawing out the authentic liquor and replacing it with cheaper liquor. While anti-counterfeiting technologies for liquor have indeed advanced over the years, the effectiveness against such counterfeiting methods remains debatable.
In China, Moutai liquor has become synonymous with corruption in Communist Party official circles, becoming the “special supply liquor” for various military regions, military systems, and government agencies. In recent years, counterfeit Moutai liquor has been pervasive in the mainland market.
At the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, two cases of counterfeiting and selling fake well-known brand Moutai liquors were exposed in Shanghai, involving amounts exceeding tens of millions of yuan. The counterfeiting methods in both cases were similar: purchasing counterfeit Moutai packaging at low prices online, acquiring empty bottles from restaurants, hotels, and liquor stores at high prices, obtaining bulk high-proof liquor or low-cost liquor for packaging into premium brand liquor bottles, followed by labeling and packaging for wholesale distribution.
The incident of counterfeit Moutai being authenticated as genuine by a Moutai store has raised concerns in the market.
Industry insiders caution consumers to purchase Moutai liquor through legitimate channels such as direct sales from distilleries, specialty stores, and physical chains, which are relatively safer. Online channels may indeed have a certain proportion of counterfeit products.