食品饮料行业周报：板块进入业绩验证期，春季糖酒会反馈平淡，品牌之间分化加剧

Investment Rating - The report assigns an "Outperform" rating to the food and beverage industry [2] Core Insights - The food and beverage sector is entering a performance verification period, with mixed feedback from the recent Spring Sugar and Wine Fair, highlighting increasing brand differentiation [3][4] - The beverage sector, particularly leading soft drink companies, has shown strong performance, while the snack food sector presents investment opportunities amid industry transformations [4][5] Market Review - The food and beverage sector experienced a decline of 4.0% last week, ranking 27th among the Shenwan first-level industries. The soft drink and beer sub-sectors performed relatively better with declines of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively, while other alcoholic beverages and dairy products saw larger declines of 5.2% and 6.4% [4][13] - As of March 21, the valuation (PE-TTM) for the liquor sector was 20.3X, while the overall food and beverage sector stood at 21.2X [4][26] Industry Data - In January-February, the production of liquor (65 degrees, commodity volume) totaled 663,000 kiloliters, down 11.2% year-on-year; beer production was 5.261 million kiloliters, down 4.9%; and wine production was 15,000 kiloliters, down 25.0% [7][28] - The retail sales of consumer goods reached 83,731 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 4.0%, including a 4.3% increase in catering revenue and a 5.5% increase in tobacco and alcohol sales [7][28] - The Spring Sugar and Wine Fair saw a subdued atmosphere, with over 6,600 exhibitors and an exhibition area of 325,000 square meters, indicating a shift in focus towards inventory management and cash flow recovery among liquor businesses [7][28] Company Performance - Leading soft drink companies like Dongpeng Beverage reported impressive growth, with revenue and net profit increasing by 40.6% and 63.1% year-on-year, respectively. The company also expanded into coffee and tea beverages [7][28] - The snack food sector is witnessing transformations, with major players adapting to market demands and enhancing their channel strategies. Companies like Wanjin Group and Three Squirrels are expanding their store formats and product offerings [7][28] - In the beer sector, there are opportunities for recovery among leading brands like Qingdao Beer, particularly in light of low base effects [7][28]