A pure spirit: Baijiu goes organic in China

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-30

The Luzhou Laojiao booth of the 2005 Jinan Autumn Sugar and Liquor 

Exhibition, Oct. 11, 2005. (Photo/CFP)

In the wake of a string of food and drink safety scandals in China in recent years and increasing scrutiny of food and drink products, many firms are promoting organic products in the hope of profiting from increasingly health-conscious consumers in the country, according to a report in Shanghai's National Business Daily.

Liu Ping, director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Green Food Development Center, was cited by the paper as stating that demand for organic products in China has been growing at 30% over recent years, which has fueled interest from firms eager to profit on the trend.

On July 25, Sichuan-based baijiu producer Luzhou Laojiao announced that it was forming an "organic alliance" with five other companies, Inner Mongolia Shengmu Gaoke Raising Company, Yantai Weilong Grape Wine Company, Beidahuang Qinmin Organic Food Company, Beijing-based Bainianliyuan Eco-agriculture Company and Beijing-based Xingnong Taihua Organic Farming Company, according to the paper.

The Rise of Organic Baijiu

Luzhou is located in southern Sichuan and the red sorghum that grows on the fertile purple soil there, used to make Luzhao Laojiao's liquor, contains a lot of starch, making it very glutinous.

Products can only be called organic in China if they meet rigorous national standards governing the environmental conditions of the land in which raw ingredients are grown. Luzhou Laojiao began to work towards organic sorghum planting in 2000, starting with trials and finally gaining certification.

It is now sorghum harvesting season and the head of production for Luzhou Red Sorghum Modern Agricultural Development Company Tang Youcai says it took five to six years for the sorghum to grow to head height. Luzhou Laojiao has signed contracts with farmers occupying over 3,300 hectares of sorghum fields across three counties in Luzhou. Only half of the sorghum produced ends up being certified as organic, according to Tang.

Producing organic baijiu is a relatively new field in China. One distiller tested the waters back in 2008 and the market heated up after organic baijiu stole the show at the 2010 Jinan Autumn Sugar and Liquor Exhibition.

Explosive Growth

Organic farming is already common in the wine industry. Recently the largest organic wine producer in Bordeaux teamed up with wine distributer 1919, to launch themselves on the Chinese market.