CHINESE luxury liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co., a bellwether for the country’s big spenders, said Friday that its exports reached a record high of US$383 million in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 34.5 percent compared with a year earlier.

In the first nine months of the year, the Shanghai-listed firm exported 1,769 tons of Kweichow Moutai and other alcoholic beverages, up 6.8 percent year on year.

An Huailun, chairman of Moutai’s import and export subsidiary, said Moutai products have entered 12 countries along the Belt and Road routes this year, as the company expands overseas.

The export volume to 38 Belt and Road countries rose 36.4 percent, accounting for 22.6 percent of the firm’s total overseas sales, said An at an overseas dealers’ conference.

Kweichow Moutai has planned to increase the proportion of overseas sales to more than 10 percent of total sales by 2020, as it shifts its focus to the Western mainstream market from mainly overseas Chinese consumers.

Li Baofang, chairman of Kweichow Moutai, said the company will seek to nurture international fans of Kweichow Moutai liquor while expanding overseas.

“We will also pay attention to the 70 million foreigners who learn the Chinese language and culture overseas as well as the nearly 500,000 international students in China,” said Li.

Kweichow Moutai, produced in Renhuai, southwestern China’s Guizhou Province, is often served on official occasions such as State banquets in China. Despite its high price (costing up from US$215 per bottle), domestic demand for the liquor has always exceeded supply. (SD-Xinhua)