Step aside, Johnnie Walker. China’s Kweichow Moutai has surpassed the cane-toting whisky brand’s British proprietor Diageo (DEO) as the world’s most valuable liquor maker.
Moutai, which makes the Chinese grain liquor baijiu—including its eponymous brand named for the town in which it’s produced—saw its market value hit $71.5 billion on Friday in Shanghai, Bloomberg reports. The distiller’s rise comes on the back of a 55% upswing in its share price last year. That’s more than double the gains of Diageo.
According to Bloomberg, more than 95% of Moutai’s sales came from its domestic market in the fiscal year to June. Consumers of Diageo brands were globally distributed, with about 60% of sales from Europe and North America for the same period.
