The Chinese beer market is controlled by five major producers: Snow Beer, Tsingtao, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Yanjing and Carlsberg. Due to the short shelf-life of beer, high transport costs and regional characteristics the brewing companies seek first to consolidate its position in the market of a particular province, to increase the profit at the local level, and then to expand the production.

Snow Beer, the Chinese leader, controls more than 20% of the market, most of which accounts for the provinces of Liaoning, Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui. The production of Tsingtao Brewery is concentrated in Shandong, Shaanxi, Central Plains and Northeast.

Yanjing Brewery settled down in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi. The world brewing leader AB InBev keeps the control over the North-Eastern part of the country through its subsidiary – Harbin Brewery. AB InBev has also placed its production in Hubei, Fujian and gained access to the market of South China through the joint venture with Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Group Co., Ltd. – Guangzhou Zhuajiang Brewery Co., Ltd., where it owns 25% of the shares.

Despite the fact that the top companies are represented better or worse in certain regions, their products can be found throughout the country.

Danish Carlsberg in China is called the “king of the west”, because this part of the country is most covered by the company. The Carlsberg breweries are located in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Chongqing and Yunnan.