China's largest beer maker, Tsingtao Brewery Co., announced on October 13 that it has increased its production by 12% in January–September this year versus January-September 2002. The brewer produced around 2.68 million metric tons of beer in the nine months ended September 30, against 2.40 million tons of beer produced in the same period in 2002, said the company’s official. "Sales volume (for the period) shouldn't be far off production volume," he said.

The company earlier reported its sales volume rose 8% to 1.65 million tons in the first half of the year, as the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) affected demand. "It looks as though we won't be able to achieve our original production target of 3.6 million tons this year," the official said. "The new target is 3.3 million tons."

The company is expected to announce its third-quarter results by the end of the month.

15 October, 2003