China Foods to buy wineries in Australia, US

Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co Ltd saw a dramatic decline in its sales of premium wines and reported an 11.1 percent fall in net profit to 1.7 billion yuan ($273 million) for 2012.

China Foods' wine sales, which account for a major part of its revenue, were also affected. The company's net profit slumped 41 percent from 646 million Hong Kong dollars ($83 million) to 382 million HK dollars.

Apart from further overseas expansion, China Foods said it also plans to boost sales by launching new entry-level products.

"The new products will be priced between 50 and 100 yuan, to make them affordable to common consumers. This is also in line with the relatively slower economic growth this year," said Luan.

Meanwhile, analysts cheered the planned acquisitions.

"Overseas investments will help the company gain more expertise as well as experience in wine production and winery management," said Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant.

"China's market is growing very fast but is still less familiar with the wine culture than Western countries. The most important thing right now is to bring wine into the households as well as to people's daily life," Ma added.

zhousiyu@chinadaily.com.cn