In terms of absolute quantity, the export quantity and export amount of Chinese

Baijiu in recent years are very large. However, in terms of relative quantity, the export

volume of Chinese Baijiu accounts for the total volume of Chinese Baijiu. The proportion of sales volume is still lower than 0.2% for a long time, and the export value of Chinese Baijiu accounts for less than 1% of the total sales of Chinese Baijiu, which is far less than expected. The export market of Chinese Baijiu is broad and the market difference is large, mainly in the Asian market. There are hundreds of countries and regions exporting

Chinese Baijiu, and the export market is widely distributed, but the import quantity

and amount of each country and region vary greatly. In terms of the quantity exported

to all continents, Asia accounts for more than 70% of Baijiu export business, Europe

accounts for about 10%, and America, Oceania and Africa account for less than 10%27

. The main export markets are Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese Macao, the United States, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.?

?Comparison with British Gin, British(Scottish) whiskey and Swedish vodka

China's Baijiu exports (HS code 22089020) experienced considerable ups and

downs between 2017 and 2021. Compared with 2017, the export volume in 2018

showed a considerable increase, but it quickly leveled off in 2019, reaching 650

million US dollars. With the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, the global economy

and trade have been greatly impacted, and the export volume of Baijiu has also

declined rapidly, which is lower than the level in 2017. Exports recovered slightly in

2021, but it will still be difficult to surpass pre-pandemic export levels in the short

term. The export volume of Chinese Baijiu in 2021 was only84.9% of that in 2019. In a longer period of time, the overall trend of Baijiu exports in the past decade can

be roughly seen through China's spirit exports (HS code 220890). From 2011 to

2021, the export value of the overall high alcohol has increased in waves, and has

remained basically stable except for the obvious recession in 2013 and 2020. From a

linear trend, Baijiu exports can continue to grow after the negative impact of the

pandemic on the economy has declined. Comparing Chinese Baijiu with other world-renowned spirits (British gin, British whisky, Swedish vodka), the export value of Chinese Baijiu is slightly higher than that of Swedish vodka (the world's largest exporter of vodka), lower than that of British gin. It is far less than the British whisky, accounting for only 10% of its export value. It is obvious that the export volume and popularity of Western spirits is far

greater than that of Chinese Baijiu on a global scale. Especially under the premise of

the huge total output of Baijiu in China, the export situation of Baijiu is not ideal.?

International market share (MS)

The MS index is used to measure the international market share of a country's

products. The higher the index is, the stronger the international market share of the

country's products is. The formula is expressed as: MSij = Xij/Xwj. Among them, Xij and Xwj represent the export value of product j in country i and the world, respectively. As can be seen from the above picture,?compared with British whisky and gin, China's Baijiu has a much lower global market share, lacking competitiveness, and has not recovered its previous export status after the pandemic.

In contrast, British spirits dominate the global market in their respective fields and have regained export competitiveness a year after the pandemic, and even British whisky has expanded its global share. Before 2020, the competitiveness of Swedish vodka in the global vodka market was similar to that of China's Baijiu, but 2020 became a watershed. In 2021, Swedish vodka basically regained its export competitiveness with a slight increase.?

Index of International Trade Competitiveness (TC)

The TC index is used to measure the competitiveness of a product in the

international market from two aspects of import and export. The formula is expressed as: TC=(Xij-Mij)/(Xij+Mij). Among them, Xij and Mij

represent the export and import volume of product j in country i. The size of the TC index fluctuates in the range of [?1, 1]. If the TC index is

greater than zero, it indicates that this type of commodity has strong international

competitiveness; if the TC index is less than zero, it indicates that this type of

commodity is not internationally competitive. When the TC index was used to look at the export competitiveness of individual spirits, their gap narrowed a lot. The TC values of British gin, whisky and Swedish vodka all exceed 0.9, and they have absolute trade competitiveness. They have almost no strong competitors in their respective fields. The TC value of China's Baijiu fell from 0.74 before the pandemic to 0.6, which shows the negative

impact of Covid-19. Overall, Baijiu still has strong competitiveness in global spirits

market, but there is still a big gap compared with other spirits, and the reason for its

better TC value is only due to differences in culture and drinking habits. Imported

distilled spirits are not welcome in China.?

Index of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA)

The RCA index can better measure the comparative advantage of a country's

industrial exports relative to the world's average export level. The calculation is: RCAij=(Xij/Xi)/(Xwj/Xw). Among them, Xij and Xi represent the export value of j product and all products in country i respectively, and the corresponding Xwj and Xw represent the global export value of j product and all products respectively. If the index is greater than 2.5, it proves that the product has strong competitiveness in the world, and if it is less than 0.8, it proves that the competitiveness is very weak.

By looking at the RCA indices of several spirits, it is clear that

British whisky and gin, as well as Swedish vodka, have values well above 2.5, indicating that they have strong trade competitiveness. Gin and vodka land values

have declined over the five-year period, while whisky land competitiveness continues

to increase. The index of China's Baijiu is greater than 0.8 and less than 2.5 before the

pandemic, which means that it has a certain trade competitiveness. However, after the

outbreak of Covid-19, its international competitiveness declined rapidly, and it has

almost lost its global competitiveness in 2021. Undoubtedly, this is a very dangerous

signal that China's Baijiu industry must restore and enhance its export

competitiveness through reforms and innovations.?

Comparison with Korean Soju (??)

Compared with several well-known western spirits in the world, it is obvious that

Chinese Baijiu is close to Swedish vodka and English gin in total export volume. However, with various trade competitiveness index analysis, the competitiveness of

China's Baijiu is far less than that of British whisky, gin and Swedish vodka. On this basis, the author selected Soju, a well-known traditional alcohol in Korea, to make some simple comparisons with Baijiu. In recent years, Korean Soju companies have made great achievements in promoting Soju to the world with the help of the global influence of K-pop culture. Although the alcohol volume of Soju (18-20% vol) is close to that of red wine, far lower than that of Baijiu, whiskey and vodka, as a traditional alcohol in East Asia, the development of Soju is of great significance to Baijiu. South Korea is the world's largest producer and exporter of Soju. Its export volume in 2021 was about 86 million dollars. Its main export targets are the United States, Vietnam and India. From the above picture and table, we can see that China's Baijiu exports far exceeded South Korea's Soju exports during 2017-2021, about five to seven times that of Soju's exports. In recent years, the highest export value of Soju is only 109 million US dollars. Both Baijiu and Soju have struggled to

recover their previous export volumes in the past two years due to the negative impact

of the pandemic. Since Soju's export value is much smaller than Baijiu's, Soju's market share (MS) in the non-Western spirits market is much lower than Baijiu's, less than 4%. Obviously, South Korea's Soju's international competitiveness is very weak, and Baijiu's relative

to Soju Still have the overall advantage. Soju's TC index is slightly lower than Baijiu in general, fluctuating between 0.6-0.7, only surpassing Baijiu in 2020, and showing a downward trend. In this indicator, Baijiu is similar to Soju and has a certain export competitiveness in the industry, but it is not strong. Through the RCA index, it can be found that the overall competitiveness of Baijiu is much higher than that of Soju. Although both are significant indicators of reaching 2.5, Baijiu's RCA is higher than 0.8, showing weak export competitiveness, while Soju has slipped from 0.2 to 0.09, showing no international competitiveness at all. It is not difficult to see from these indices that although South Korea’s Soju export has also achieved some achievements (the successful reform of Hite Jinro, a Soju company), the overall export competitiveness of its industry is still far lower than that

of China’s Baijiu, and with the outbreak of the pandemic, two alcohols There has been

a decline in export value, and it is necessary to further restore export competitiveness.?