Zhongtai: Clean soy sauce rapidly expands production. Soy sauce industry enters a new stage of quality restructuring.

Zhongtai releases a research report stating that the soy sauce industry is facing dual opportunities and challenges of diverse consumer demands and highly fragmented channels. On the demand side, there is a focus on attributes such as authenticity, health, and convenience, while companies are actively transitioning with "quality restructuring" as a key keyword. "Clean ingredients" soy sauce is becoming the core engine driving the upgrade in soy sauce quality and sustained consumption growth. This consumer trend differentiation phenomenon may favor companies with existing technological reserves and flexible response capabilities, as well as the ability to deploy across all channels and implement differentiated strategies tailored to the characteristics of different channels. Policy guidance is leading to a rapid expansion of clean soy sauce. As a mature category in the condiment industry, soy sauce has entered a mature stage, with the market size maintaining a moderate and slow growth rate of 2-5% annually. Since 2025, multiple clean labels, key policies related to food additives, and standards have been issued and implemented, indicating that the soy sauce industry is moving towards a high-quality development stage characterized by standardized standards, prioritizing quality, and increasing standardization levels, promoting the rapid expansion of clean ingredient soy sauce. According to Ipsos calculations, clean ingredient soy sauce has maintained double-digit growth in recent years, with the market size reaching 2.6 billion yuan by 2024, and a CAGR of 23.67% from 2022 to 2024. In the next 3 years, clean ingredient soy sauce is expected to account for 63.9% of the quality soy sauce market at the retail end, with leading brands occupying a 50% market share. Development trends: 1) Supply side: Product iteration and channel support form a virtuous cycle. Haitian has tightly controlled the stability of product flavor and quality, with production and sales ranking first in the country for several decades. Core products like Jinbiao light soy sauce, Caogu dark soy sauce, and Weijixian soy sauce form a solid foundation of billion-level products. The company has introduced healthy series such as low-salt and organic, as well as products like Matsutake premium soy sauce in line with market trends. From iron-enriched, selenium-rich, to gluten-free soy sauce tailored to specific dietary needs, the company has segmented the soy sauce market into numerous sub-markets with specific demands, willing to pay a premium for different values, providing consumers with a "product spectrum" to meet multi-dimensional needs. In October 25, Qianhe obtained the first level of certification in the food industry with the 0 series soy sauce from the China Quality Certification Center, boldly moving the ingredient list from the back of the bottle to the front, explicitly stating that the 0 series soy sauce from Qianhe only uses 4-5 basic ingredients, truly achieving "clean ingredients, no additives," to restore consumer trust and lead the trend of quality consumption. On the channel side, Tmall Supermarket provides traffic support for products certified with clean labels, giving quality products more exposure and helping brands to improve their formulas, forming a positive production and sales cycle. 2) Demand side: Different lifestyles, common pursuit of quality health. According to the Ipsos report "Clean Ingredient Soy Sauce Category Development and Trends", consumers of healthy soy sauce are relatively broad. Based on the strictness of health requirements and cooking skills, the report divides the target consumer groups into three categories: health enthusiasts, taste priority, and health foodie. Different consumer groups show significant differences in consumption demands and habits, but generally exhibit a close focus on ingredient lists and the functionality of soy sauce.