What is the scientific and technological content of Maotai?
Following the “Baijiu academician” storm, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) ( Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) .SH) was also questioned outside the country because of the “national enterprise technology center qualification was withdrawn”.
Recently, the national development and Reform Commission announced the evaluation results of the national enterprise technology center in 2021. The evaluation score of enterprise technology centers such as China Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) distillery (Group) Co., Ltd. is less than 60, the number of research and experimental development personnel is less than 150, the original value of enterprise technology development instruments and equipment is less than 20 million yuan, and the expenditure on research and experimental development is less than 15 million yuan, If it is evaluated as unqualified, its qualification as a national enterprise technology center shall be revoked.
As soon as the news came out, it triggered a heated discussion among investors. On the investment platform, some netizens said: “brewing does not have too high technical content. In fact, it pays more attention to the inheritance of traditional crafts”.
On the above situation, times finance contacted and interviewed Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) relevant principals, but as of press time, no reply was received. Cai Xuefei, a wine analyst, told times finance that the national enterprise technology center is a technology guiding organization for enterprises by relevant departments, and its more value lies in promoting and supporting China’s leading enterprises at the level of technological innovation.
“This selection result can be understood as that the hardware of Maotai Group does not meet the standards of relevant departments, but it can not explain that there are problems in the technical quality of Maotai.” Cai Xuefei told times finance that the revocation of the qualification of the national enterprise technology center has little impact on Maotai at the market level.
score bottom
The national enterprise technology center is jointly responsible by the national development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of science and technology, the Ministry of finance, the General Administration of customs and the State Administration of taxation. In order to promote the technological progress of enterprises and establish the dominant position of enterprises’ technological innovation and scientific and technological investment, the state organizes a comprehensive evaluation system for enterprises’ technological innovation ability based on 50 indicators, which is recognized once a year, And give corresponding preferential policies to encourage and guide enterprises to continuously improve their independent innovation ability.
A total of 1744 enterprises participated in the evaluation of the national enterprise technology center, including 11 national enterprise technology centers related to alcohol, such as Maotai, Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) , Fenjiu, Jiannanchun, Tsingtao beer, Zhujiang and Yanjing. Among the 6 Baijiu enterprises, the highest score was Guotai Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Group Co.Ltd(600535) , ranked 89.2 in 89.2 place, and the only enterprise in the liquor industry ranks the top 100 in the national enterprise technology center. Followed by Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) ( Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) . SZ), with 82.3 points, ranking 385; Fen Liquor ( Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory Co.Ltd(600809) . SH) scored 79.6 points, ranking 557; Jiannanchun scored 55.9 points, ranking 1649; Maotai Group scored 50.7 points, ranking 1672, ranking bottom among the participating enterprises. Due to unqualified scores, Maotai Group and Jiannanchun will be disqualified from the national enterprise technology center.
According to public information, the predecessor of Maotai technology center was the scientific research laboratory and later scientific research institute in Maotai in the early 1950s. After more than 60 years of development, it has accumulated a large number of scientific research achievements, gathered and trained a number of top experts in the brewing industry, and played a role in promoting the research on the production technology, flavor and taste of Maotai liquor and even the development of the whole fermentation and brewing industry.
In April 2018, Li Baofang, then Secretary of the Party committee and general manager of Maotai Group, went to Maotai technology center to investigate and guide the work. Li Baofang said that the technology center is the “place of origin” of Maotai Group’s scientific research achievements and the “guarantee place” of product quality. We should take the investigation of the technology center and solving their existing problems as a major event of the group. The technology center should accelerate the transformation of scientific research achievements and the deep integration of industry, University and research, so as to become the pillar of technology development, research and application and become a first-class in the food industry.
In February 2021, Wang Li, chief engineer of Maotai Group, was selected as a candidate for academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, causing controversy. According to media reports, Wang Li was assigned to the analysis group of Maotai distillery scientific research institute after graduating from university. In 1998, with the approval of the State Economic and Trade Commission, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) first established a national technology R & D center. In 2001, relying on the good opportunity of upgrading the scientific research institute to a national enterprise technology center, Wang Li led the establishment of an enterprise analysis laboratory. In April 2005, Wang Li served as deputy director of Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) technology center.
In 2018, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) also set up academician Chen Jian workstation in the technical center of Maotai Group. Chen Jian is an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and then president of Jiangnan University. This is the first academician workstation in the Maoxiang Baijiu industry.
Baijiu Enterprise Limited in technology content
Under the ridicule of netizens “Maotai flavor technology”, Maotai’s scientific and technological innovation ability has become the focus of discussion.
Everfount, Baijiu, principle of “Moutai: how much technology is there”, said in Moutai’s official website that after a long period of rigorous scientific comparative study, experts believe that Moutai liquor is more fragrant than other famous liquor, because the Moutai people have been continuously summarizing the basic brewing technology and principles of Chinese baijiu. Innovation and development have mastered many “unique skills” in the field of complex and systematic Liquor Science and technology, so the “gold content” of science and technology is very important.
Although Maotai Group has repeatedly publicized the concepts of “science and technology Maotai” and “science and technology empowerment”, its R & D expenses and the number of R & D personnel have continued to decline in recent years.
According to the financial report data, from 2017 to 2020, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) R & D expenditure totaled 435 million yuan, 386 million yuan, 221 million yuan and 132 million yuan respectively, accounting for 0.75%, 0.52%, 0.26% and 0.14% of the total revenue respectively. In the first three quarters of 2021, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) the R & D expense was 42 million yuan, accounting for 0.056% of the total revenue.
The decrease in R & D investment corresponds to the decrease in the number of R & D personnel. In 2017, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) R & D personnel numbered 1679, 551 in 2018, 495 in 2019 and 513 in 2020. The proportion of R & D personnel in the total number of employees in the same period was 6.99%, 2.07%, 1.83% and 1.77% respectively.
As a traditional industry, there is still a big gap between the technological innovation of Baijiu and the high-tech industry. Of the 1744 national enterprise technology centers, 6 of the National Liquor Enterprises’ technical centers accounted for less than 0.4%.
The difference of scientific and technological innovation ability of leading liquor enterprises is also directly reflected in the number of patent applications.
The list of Baijiu patent 20 companies shows that even the number of Anhui Gujing Distillery Company Limited(000596) Anhui Gujing Distillery Company Limited(000596) .SZ patents in Baijiu enterprises failed to exceed 1000 patents. Compared with industries such as new energy vehicles ( Byd Company Limited(002594) with 9426 valid patents, ranking first), logistics technology ( China International Marine Containers (Group) Co.Ltd(000039) with 2266 valid patents, ranking first), the gap is very obvious.
The Chinese Baijiu Baijiu liquor has been highly refined, but its technological content is limited.
Taking Anhui Gujing Distillery Company Limited(000596) and Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) as examples, the former has more utility model patents and the latter has more design patents. In addition, Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) although it ranks first in the list of invention patents, there are only 33 valid invention patents, and its performance in other lists is not outstanding.
Xiao Zhuqing, a wine marketing expert, told times finance, compared with the innovative elements needed by modern technology enterprises, Moutai Baijiu enterprises actually needed the inheritance of technology. “According to the annual Dragon Boat Festival music making and the Double Ninth Festival sand, we insist on using female workers to step on the music and male workers to bake wine. Adhering to this traditional culture is the root of Maotai’s brand value. The purer the traditional technology, the better, and the less pollution of modern elements, the better.” Xiao Zhuqing said.
Cai Xuefei told times finance that Baijiu has a high technology content in microbial fermentation and industrial production in the food industry. Although the industry has been emphasizing traditional brewing, in fact, Chinese Baijiu is an important branch of modern food industry, and has a high research value for modern microbiology, fermentation and biological technology.
In Chinese Baijiu Baijiu, he believes that the traditional value of Chinese Baijiu lies in its heritage. But the upgrading and innovation of traditional liquor making technology should also be the main direction of liquor development in the future.
