What new story is in the soy sauce bottle? What does the 2025 financial report of Haitan Flavoring and Food (603288.SH/03288.HK) reveal?

Currently, the valuation recovery of the consumption sector is becoming a consensus among institutions. With policies such as expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption being intensified, consumption is expected to become an important driving force for the recovery of the Hong Kong and A-share markets.

Of course, differentiation remains the main theme of the industry, but as a necessary consumer good, condiments have strong anti-cyclical characteristics, and the market feedback is also much more positive.

For example, Haitian Flavoring.

Recently, Haitian released its financial report for 2025, showing that the company achieved an operating income of 28.873 billion yuan in the past year, a year-on-year increase of 7.32%. Profitability also improved simultaneously, with a net profit attributable to the parent company of 7.038 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.95%; the net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 6.845 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.81%; the gross profit margin of the main condiment business was 41.78%, an increase of 3.15 percentage points year-on-year. All operating data set historical highs.

Despite the positive performance, the current market focus has not yet fully shifted. Therefore, for those who truly understand Haitian, this moment may be the time to clear the fog and see the changes.

01

From the national dining table to full-scene penetration, the product matrix builds a growth foundation.

For a company like Haitian Flavoring, which has held the industry’s top position for over twenty years, it’s easy for people to fall into the illusion that its growth relies entirely on “eating old capital.” However, if we dissect its product landscape, we find that all of this company’s growth revolves around one core principle: we provide whatever users need.

By the end of 2025, Haitian has established seven major product series with annual revenues exceeding 1 billion yuan and over 30 product series worth more than 100 million yuan. Among these, Haitian soy sauce has maintained the highest production and sales volume and market share in the country for several decades, while Haitian oyster sauce has also held the highest market share nationally for ten consecutive years, making it a truly national product that is deeply loved by consumers.

The data outlined here reflects not only scale but also Haitian’s foundation as a “livelihood product platform.” Classic products such as Jinbiao light soy sauce, straw mushroom dark soy sauce, Weijixian, Haitian superior oyster sauce, and Jinbiao oyster sauce have weathered cycles not by coincidence, but because they have maintained flavor stability for decades. For users, no matter which city or channel they are in, the bottle of Jinbiao light soy sauce they purchase always tastes the same. This certainty is the starting point of user trust.

It is noteworthy that in 2025, soy sauce revenue reached 14.934 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.55%, which is still commendable. Additionally, oyster sauce and seasoning sauce recorded 4.868 billion yuan and 2.917 billion yuan, with year-on-year increases of 5.48% and 9.29%, respectively. It can be seen that the three core categories of Haitian soy sauce, oyster sauce, and seasoning sauce are progressing together, making Haitian’s foundation increasingly solid and robust.

This growth is also the result of Haitian’s continuous innovation as a “versatile player,” and it is essentially a deep response to user demands. The soy sauce category was the first in the industry to lay out organic products, now fully covering organic, low-salt, iron-fortified, and other health and nutrition-oriented soy sauce products, with each category corresponding to the dietary needs of specific groups. Oyster sauce has evolved beyond traditional freshness, continually launching new products like “spicy” oyster sauce and matsutake fresh oyster sauce to cater to the new taste scenarios of younger consumers. Seasoning sauces have tapped into regional habits and the lazy economy: perilla sauce and Guilin-style chili sauce meet regional flavor preferences, while scallion oil noodle sauce satisfies the demand for “convenient cooking.” Products like vinegar, cooking wine, and compound sauces provide a full-scene “one-stop” kitchen seasoning solution, such as vinegar also producing unique fruit vinegar products like zero-sugar apple vinegar and original orange vinegar, moving from the back kitchen to light dining.

In 2025, Haitian responded to consumers’ demands for green and healthy diets, creating over 1,000 new products that align with nutritional health trends, particularly represented by organic and low-salt categories. The sales growth rate of the health and nutrition series reached 48.3%, far exceeding the single-digit growth rate of traditional categories. It can be said that Haitian has long surpassed being just a condiment brand, upgrading to a lifestyle brand.

This extension of product strength goes beyond home kitchens. Relying on the scale effects of its supply chain, technological research and development, and flexible production, Haitian is accelerating its upgrade from a “condiment supplier” to a “one-stop flavor solution provider.” By 2025, it has provided customized condiment services for numerous restaurant chains, food factories, and leading global retail brands, extending from “single condiment product sales” to “full-scene service in front and back kitchens.”

From the national dining table to the bottom kitchen, from classic major products to healthy new categories, Haitian is proving with its full-scene product matrix that the so-called growth foundation is not about how many bottles of soy sauce you sell, but how many scenarios you can address and how many real pain points you can solve for users.

02

When traditional brewing meets lighthouse factories, technology-driven enterprises establish “new quality productivity.”

The traditional brewing industry has long faced a core contradiction: the stability of quality is highly dependent on the personal experience of master brewers. The loss of experience means fluctuations in quality, and the industry seems to be capped by a “reliance on nature and human control” glass ceiling.

How to break this? Haitian Flavoring’s answer is to equip every master brewer with a “digital apprentice” that never goes offline, transforming centuries of brewing wisdom into replicable and iterative system capabilities, deeply applying AI and big data throughout the entire chain of research, production, supply, and sales.

In the raw material selection process, the innovative “AI bean face selection” system conducts 360-degree visual inspections on over 2.5 trillion soybeans every year, detecting about 13,000 soybeans per second, ensuring quality from the source; in the production fermentation process, AI big data intelligent fermentation models precisely control the fermentation process, real-time monitoring weather, raw materials, and equipment status, and automatically calculate the optimal solutions through AI algorithms to further improve soybean protein utilization and stabilize and optimize product flavor and yield; in quality control testing, the “AI electronic nose” can identify over 100 types of aroma component information, transforming the tasting experience of master brewers into precise data metrics.

This deep accumulation of “technology-driven enterprises” reached a milestone in January 2025: Haitian’s Gaoming production base was selected for the World Economic Forum’s “lighthouse factory” list, becoming the first company in the global soy sauce industry to receive this honor.

Behind this is also Haitian’s long-term strategic determination. Haitian insists on investing about 3% of its revenue in research and development each year. Continuous investment has ultimately led to tangible efficiency leaps at the operational level.

On the supply chain side, digitization has significantly enhanced Haitian’s supply chain operation efficiency, with on-time and full delivery rates continuously improving. Through yield improvement and reduction of losses, comprehensive costs are steadily declining. Reflected in the financial report, in 2025, the proportion of manufacturing expenses and direct labor costs in operating costs, both core indicators, exceeded those of most peers.

If “lighthouse factories” represent manufacturing excellence, then a “flexible supply chain” is the breadth of Haitian’s market service capabilities. Today’s condiment market is increasingly diverse, with the shift from “standardization” to “customization” becoming inevitable. Haitian vividly demonstrates this “fast response” capability in both To C and To B channels.

For C-end consumers, Haitian’s online business has achieved a leap from “existing” to “superior.” In 2025, online channel revenue grew significantly by 31.87% year-on-year. More interesting than the numbers is its response speed to market demands. By analyzing consumer data, Haitian actively captures the differentiated demands of emerging channels and more specifically launches online customized products like Haitian Zhenniang and concentrated fresh oyster sauce, gradually building a health development model that promotes synergy between online and offline.

For B-end clients, technology is helping Haitian establish a new paradigm of coordinated development in manufacturing “customization-scale-quality-price ratio.” For restaurant and food industrial clients, Haitian has achieved an efficient response of “3 days for samples, 15 days for delivery.” Whether it’s for tens of thousands of “small orders” or collaborative R&D for exclusive flavors, Haitian can provide full-chain solutions from formula debugging to mass production.

It can be said that digital intelligence is not a denial of the traditional, but rather a realization of “old trees bearing new fruit” through technological empowerment; flexible manufacturing is not a compromise on scale, but a new competitive advantage built in a fragmented market.

When a bottle of soy sauce carries the technological content of AI selection of beans, intelligent fermentation, and flexible customization, and when “small orders of tens of thousands” can also be treated seriously under the standards of a “lighthouse factory,” what Haitian is writing is not only a story of corporate transformation but also a vivid example of how traditional industries in China cultivate new quality productivity.

03

From value consensus to global sharing, the dual performance of ESG and going global creates a value flywheel.

As companies grow to a certain scale, they inevitably face a soul-searching question: what is the ultimate goal of your growth?

For Haitian, the financial report for 2025 provides a clear answer: to build a win-win ecological circle of shared interests. This ensures that the dividends of development flow not only into the pockets of shareholders but also benefit partners, the general public, and every ordinary family using its products.

Currently, the capital market is increasingly focused on sustainable development, and Haitian’s ESG practices are becoming a plus for the company’s value growth.

On the production front, Haitian is actively building a green and recyclable production model. In 2025, it implemented 128 energy-saving and carbon-reduction measures, reducing carbon emissions by 29,000 tons for the year; in terms of energy structure, over 28% of the electricity used by Haitian is from green power, with the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation increasing by nearly 100%, and biomass power generation projects being launched simultaneously, with green power generation reaching 29 million kWh; in terms of resource recycling, last year, 1.88 million cubic meters of water resources were recycled, equivalent to the water storage capacity of 752 standard swimming pools; the comprehensive utilization rate of waste has maintained above 99% for many years, setting a new benchmark for resource recycling in the industry.

At the industry chain level, the company, together with 25 partners, initiated the first full industry chain carbon reduction alliance in the condiment industry—the “Carbon Road Green Chain Alliance,” promoting carbon reduction actions across the entire chain from raw material procurement to logistics transportation and building a collaborative carbon reduction green ecosystem.

In terms of public welfare, the “Little Pink Cap·Special Adjustment for Love” public welfare plan deeply integrates product innovation and social responsibility. By 2025, this project has benefited 760,000 people in 28 counties across 16 provinces nationwide, most of whom were former national-level impoverished counties, effectively returning the results of corporate development to society.

In November 2025, a major fire broke out in the Hong Fu Yuan area of Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. Haitian immediately expressed concern for the disaster area and quickly donated 10 million Hong Kong dollars, fully supporting rescue and post-disaster reconstruction efforts, demonstrating the company’s responsibility and commitment.

All these efforts ultimately culminated in one result: in 2025, MSCI upgraded Haitian Flavoring’s ESG rating to A level, achieving a three-level jump for three consecutive years. The company received a Wind ESG rating of AA level, ranking first in the food industry; and a CSCI ESG rating of AA level. On March 17, 2026, at the “2026 Forbes China Industry Development Leaders Selection” jointly initiated by Forbes China and Sullivan, Haitian Flavoring was recognized as a leading enterprise for its systematic breakthroughs in digital intelligence and greenness.

In the context of the capital market, this means that you are not only a money-making enterprise but also a company that is worthy of long-term trust.

The year 2025 is also a milestone in Haitian’s internationalization journey. In June, it launched on the Hong Kong stock market, injecting capital momentum into globalization; the establishment of overseas production bases provides a vehicle for the company to enter global markets, build a global supply chain, and leverage domestic competitive advantages. On the product side, breakthroughs have also been made, with products sold to over 80 countries and regions globally, and for two consecutive years, selected as “China’s favorite brand among foreigners.”

It is noteworthy that while accelerating its global layout, Haitian has also increased the intensity of shareholder returns. In 2025, the company implemented a mid-term dividend of 2.6 yuan per 10 shares, announced a special dividend of 3 yuan per 10 shares, and together with the annual dividend of 2025, distributed nearly 7.95 billion yuan in cash dividends, with a cash dividend ratio of 112.95% for the year, setting a new historical high. Along with the continuous return of real cash, Haitian has also formulated a dividend plan for the next three years to share development results with global shareholders.

It is clear that Haitian has found a balance between expansion and returns, growth and sharing. The rise in ESG ratings, the global perspective of the Hong Kong stock platform, and the sincere commitment to continuous returns to shareholders are forming a positive cycle of value flywheel.

04

In conclusion

Looking back, Haitian’s value can actually be dissected from three dimensions—product, technology, and channel—all pointing to the same origin: whatever users need, Haitian will provide.

Products are the foundation. The three core categories, with their consistently stable flavors over decades, form the basis of the “livelihood product platform.” Meanwhile, all innovations revolve around one logic, addressing the most genuine pain points of users.

Technology is the magnifier. Lighthouse factories are not just plaques; they guarantee efficiency. Turning experience into system capabilities, a digitalized supply chain reduces costs and speeds up delivery.

Channels are the connectors. From the C-end reading user needs through data to the B-end achieving efficient customized responses. Technology brings Haitian closer to users at every touchpoint.

When a company dissects “user needs” finely enough and executes deeply enough, “stability” is no longer conservatism but the most solid foundation for traversing cycles.