Nongfu Spring is a hit with tipplers and investors alike

农夫山泉深受装卸工和投资者的喜爱

词汇

Tippler/酒鬼；倾卸装置；倾卸工

China’s leading water bottler has a blistering stockmarket debut

中国领先的瓶装水公司上市首日表现火爆

词汇

Blistering/猛烈的；极热的，极快的

Sep 12th 2020 | XIAMEN

“WE ARE NOT manufacturers of water. We are porters of nature.” So goes a famous quip by Zhong Shanshan, the 66-year-old founder and boss of Nongfu Spring, China’s most popular brand of bottled water. On September 8th the Hangzhou-based bottler listed on Hong Kong’s bourse to spectacular fanfare. Demand for shares from retail investors outstripped supply by 1,148 times (see chart). The share price shot up by 60% over the first three days of trading. Its market capitalisation reached $53bn. Mr Zhong, who still owns 84% of Nongfu Spring, is now China’s third-richest person, narrowly trailing two tech moguls: Jack Ma of Alibaba and (unrelated) Pony Ma of Tencent.

“我们不生产水。我们只是大自然的搬运工。这是农夫山泉(中国最受欢迎的瓶装水品牌)66岁的创始人兼老板钟睒睒的一句著名的俏皮话。9月8日，这家总部位于杭州的瓶装公司在香港交易所大张旗鼓地上市。散户投资者对股票的需求是其供给的1148倍(见图表)。股票价格在交易的头三天就暴涨了60%。其市值达到530亿美元。钟先生仍然拥有农夫山泉84%的股份，现在是中国第三大富豪，仅稍微落后于两位科技巨头:阿里巴巴的马云和腾讯的马化腾。

词汇

Quip/妙语；嘲弄；讽刺语

Bourse/交易所

fanfare /（仪式上庆祝或欢迎重要人物到场时）号角齐鸣，嘹亮短曲

mogul/大亨，有权势的人

Rising disposable incomes and【已删除】have fuelled demand among Chinese for the bottled variety. Consumption per person of bottled water rose from 41 litres in 2014 to 59 litres in 2019, according to data from Mintel, a market-research firm. Americans, by comparison, guzzled an average of 141 litres last year. That suggests Chinese bottlers still have plenty of room for growth, 【已删除】.

不断增长的可支配收入，以及【已删除】，推动了中国人对瓶装水的需求。市场研究公司英敏特(Mintel)的数据显示，瓶装水的人均消费量从2014年的41升上升到2019年的59升。相比之下，美国人去年的平均瓶装水饮用量为141升。这表明中国瓶装水制造商仍有很大的增长空间，【已删除】。

词汇

Guzzle/狂饮

Nongfu Spring is the runaway industry leader. It accounted for 29% of the volume sold in China in 2019. Foreign brands such as FIJI Water, Evian (owned by Danone) and Aquafina (part of PepsiCo) are easily spotted in many Chinese supermarkets. But none has a market share greater than 6.5%, reckons Mintel.

农夫山泉是这个行业的领头人。2019年，它占中国销量的29%。在许多中国超市，很容易就能看到斐济水(FIJI Water)、达能(Danone)旗下依云(Evian)和百事(PepsiCo)旗下的Aquafina等外国品牌。但据英敏特估计，没有一家公司的市场份额超过6.5%。

One reason for Nongfu’s success is its effort to cater to all market segments. Stingy folk can buy a mass-market 380ml-plastic bottle for as little as 1.5 yuan ($0.22). The well-heeled may opt for the glass-bottled version, which comes with “award-winning” designs and retails for 30-45 yuan. In between you can get a lithium-rich liquid which is claimed to benefit the nervous system. Total revenues across Nongfu’s waters increased by 42% between 2017 and 2019, to 14.3bn yuan. Gross margins held steady at an impressive 60%.

农夫山泉成功的一个原因是它努力迎合所有细分市场。拮据的人可以花1.5元(0.22美元)买到一个380毫升的大众市场塑料包装水。有钱人可能会选择玻璃瓶装的，它有“获奖”的设计，零售价30-45元。无论选择何者，你可以得到一种据称对神经系统有益的富含锂的液体。2017年至2019年，农夫湖水域的总收入增长了42%，达到143亿元人民币。毛利率稳定在令人印象深刻的60%。

词汇

Lithium/锂

Nongfu sceptics point out that the bottled-water industry, in China and elsewhere, has few technical barriers to entry. The main raw material is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic that is cheap and easy to process. No special knowledge is required. Evergrande, a Chinese property developer, boasts its own line of bottled water called Evergrande Spring. The water itself tends to be an afterthought.

农夫山泉怀疑论者指出，在中国和其他地方，瓶装水行业几乎没有进入的技术壁垒。主要原料是聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)，这是一种廉价且易于加工的塑料。不需要特别的知识。中国房地产开发商恒大集团(Evergrande)自诩拥有自己的瓶装水品牌——恒大冰泉(Evergrande Spring)。水本身往往是后来才需考虑的事物。 

Not in Nongfu’s case. As its aggressive marketers never tire of stressing, it possesses water-extraction permits for ten of China’s most famous unspoilt bodies of water—from Thousand Island Lake in the eastern province of Zhejiang to Mount Tianshan in the remote western region of Xinjiang. The permits, granted by local governments for up to 30 years, are a moat against competitors. Loris Li, an independent analyst of China’s beverage industry, observes that “the quality of the original water source” can be a strong point of brand differentiation.

农夫山泉的情况并非如此。正如其积极进取的营销人员不断强调的那样，该公司拥有中国10个最著名的未被破坏的水体的取水许可，这些水体从东部浙江省的千岛湖到西部新疆偏远地区的天山。这些由地方政府颁发的最长可达30年的许可证，是对抗竞争对手的一道护城河。中国饮料业的独立分析师Loris Li指出，“原始水源的质量”可能是品牌差异化的一个优势。

词汇

Extraction/取出；抽出

Moat/护城河；壕沟

Beverage/饮料

Nongfu Spring has another edge: it is seen as close to Chinese officialdom. At high-level political summits, rows of Nongfu bottles arranged on tables are a common sight. As sources of advantage go, it doesn’t get better than this in China. ■

农夫山泉还有另一个优势:它被视为与中国官方关系密切。在高层政治峰会上，桌上摆着一排排农夫山泉是常见的景象。就优势来源而言，在中国没有比这更好的了。

词汇

Officialdom/官场