SAM S Club was suspected of hoarding a popular brand of Chinese liquor to profit from an impending price rise with the New Year just around the corner, the Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.
The supermarket claimed Moutai (53-percent alcohol content) an expensive strong spirit was out of stock, but about 1,500 bottles of the liquor were on the supermarket shelves when the reporters visited the supermarket Monday.
A sticker on one case of the liquor read not for sale.
A liquor saleswoman told reporters that Moutai (53-percent alcohol content) had been out of stock for more than a month and new supplies would arrive around the New Year.
The liquor was selling for 1,098 yuan (US$166) per bottle one month ago and the price will surely go up, the saleswoman said.
Staff at the supermarket s customer service center said the liquor on the shelves had been reserved by customers.
However, a woman in the supermarket s bulk purchase department, identified only as Guo, said shoppers could apply to buy two cases of Moutai (53-percent alcohol content) if they bought goods worth 100,000 yuan, including the two cases of Moutai.
Guo said the conditional purchase was a sales strategy set by the supermarket s procurement department because the liquor was out of stock in many stores in Shenzhen.
Guo did not say how much the liquor would cost during the New Year holidays.
The Moutai distillery in Guizhou Province announced a 20-percent price hike from the beginning of next year.
The supermarket s stock of the liquor would sell for 1,560 yuan per bottle if it followed the producer, the paper said.
A bottle of Moutai (53-percent alcohol content) sold for around 700 yuan in September. Price rises over the past three months have been quite unbelievable, said a consumer surnamed Chen.
The supermarket s conditional sale prejudiced against consumers, said Chen, who was angry when he saw the liquor on the shelves.
Another consumer, Zhou, said that, as a membership store, hoarding by the supermarket eroded consumer trust.
A lawyer with Guangdong Zhong an Law Firm, Pan Xiang, said Sam s Club, as a retailer, was suspected of illegal hoarding.
Moutai is quite strong with an alcohol content of about 53 percent. There are milder versions that go down to about 35 percent alcohol.
One of China s entries to the 1915 World Exposition in Panama, Moutai is one of the spirits served at State banquets in China. (Martin Li)
