Chinese beer shares surge on reported price raise

BEIJING - Chinese brewers saw their shares surge Friday over reports of uniform price increases of some products.

Leading Chinese beer maker Tsingtao Brewery Company Limited saw its share price on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rise by the daily limit of 10 percent on Friday.

Shares of other brewers include China Resources Beer and Beijing Yanjing Brewery, which both gained more than 7 percent.

Media reports pointed out Thursday that, in a rare uniform move from Jan 1, brewers including Tsingtao and China Resources Beer raised some product prices, citing rising costs of materials, labor, packaging and transportation.

Tsingtao Brewery released a statement saying that the price increase was due to rising packaging and production costs, but the increase is not across the board and only averages about 5 percent.

Analysts said the price increase of Chinese beer reflected upgraded consumption in the world's second-largest economy, as increasingly affluent consumers are less sensitive to prices but crave more high-end packaging and brands.