Xiao Chen’s uncle was a betel nut lover, but died of pharyngeal cancer a few years ago because of a long-term addiction to betel nut consumption. Before his death, Uncle Xiao Chen repeatedly said to his relatives: “You must not eat betel nuts, otherwise the ending will be the same as me.”
As we all know, there are many people in the south who love to eat betel nuts. However, because long-term consumption of betel nuts will increase the risk of cancer, many areas in the south have adopted certain control measures on the sales of betel nuts. However, it seems that the effect of restricting the sales of betel nuts is currently It’s not obvious, and the Blue Whale Financial reporter noticed that betel nut has become a good business in the northern market, and some consumers eat two or three packs a day.
Recently, by visiting the market, Blue Whale Finance reporters discovered that many betel nut companies have already spotted the northern market and spared no effort to lure betel nuts to dealers with high profits. Betel nut has also become one of the most popular categories in Chengdu Sugar and Wine Fair this month. Every betel nut company’s booth was surrounded by people.
It is worth noting that the seemingly unpopular food, with the expansion of the consumer group, has been eaten by many betel nut companies with a scale of tens of billions by betel nut lovers. According to distributors, Hunan Huangye Foods’ annual sales volume has exceeded RMB 10 billion after acquiring the time-honored brand Zhang Xinfa. The scale of the top brand taste king exceeds 20 billion yuan. In terms of the overall industry, some insiders claim that the size of the betel nut industry exceeds 100 billion yuan.
Behind such a large scale, betel nut has gradually spread from the original southern markets such as Hunan and Guangdong to northern provinces and cities such as Henan, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Beijing.
From the perspective of industry insiders, due to population mobility and the sparing efforts of merchants to promote and channel penetration, betel nut products are accelerating their penetration into the northern market, and the market scale continues to expand. The deeper reason behind it is the high profits brought about by the high price of betel nut, which has caused dealers to flock to it. At the same time, the addictive nature of betel nut products has brought a stable consumer base, which in turn allows businesses to have a stable source of income.
However, as a food that is listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization along with tobacco, the carcinogenic risk of betel nut has been recognized and issued warnings by more and more authoritative experts or institutions, but it has accelerated development in China. With the trend, more and more people become betel nut enthusiasts, but there is very little control over betel nut products in China. In this case, it is obviously not enough to rely on the reminders of some experts, scholars or organizations. It is urgent for relevant government agencies to intervene to formulate national mandatory standards and laws and regulations to regulate the development of this special industry of 100 billion yuan.
Some people eat two packs a day, and the betel nut business spreads across the country
“At first I ate betel nut for two days, and then one packet a day. Now I eat two or three bags a day. It is very refreshing and feels good. It didn’t take long for me to become addicted. I first ate betel nut for 1.5 yuan each. Later, when the fat brother counted a pack of betel nuts in the factory, he now eats betel nuts worth more than 300 yuan per catty from Zhang Xinfa. The more expensive he eats, the more he eats,” said a betel nut lover.
Originally, betel nut was only popular in my country’s Hunan, Hainan, Fujian, Taiwan and other regions. However, the Blue Whale financial reporter found that in northern regions such as Beijing, Hebei, and Henan, betel nut has become a standard for many retail stores.
In a small store in Chaoyang District, Beijing, there are a variety of mainstream betel nut brands, including Xiangtanpu wolfberry betel nut, Binzhilang probiotic betel nut, Weiwang and Chengtianxia products. The owner told the Blue Whale Financial reporter that there are many consumers who buy betel nuts, and they cannot tell whether they are southerners or northerners. “Many stores in Beijing are selling betel nuts, and they are selling well. It turns out that there are very few products at 5 yuan, 10 yuan and 15 yuan per pack, and they are not enough to eat. Customers all buy 20 yuan and 30 yuan per pack. Some consumers A person can eat two packs of 50 yuan a pack a day, one pack in the morning and one pack in the afternoon.”
In addition to individual shops selling betel nuts, large commercial enterprises are also selling betel nuts. According to many points of Wumart’s shopping platform, many convenience stores of Wumart also sell betel nuts of brands such as Zhang Xinfa.
Not only in Beijing, but also in Zhengzhou, Henan, almost every retail store sells betel nuts, and they are all prominently placed near the checkout counter. In Hebei, some consumers also told Blue Whale Finance reporters that many consumers in their twenties eat betel nuts. This consumer likes to chew on a betel nut with cracked beads after drinking. “It’s very exciting after eating.”
At present, the top companies in the betel nut field, Taste King, Huangye Food’s Zhang Xinfa, and Yellow Crane Tower have all set up distributors in Henan and Hebei, and have opened up investment invitations at some food exhibitions.
At the just-concluded Chengdu Sugar and Wine Fair, the booths of betel nut enterprises also attracted much attention, and there was an endless stream of people negotiating business. A reporter from Blue Whale Finance noticed that the ground of Zhangxin Development Station, a time-honored Hunan company, was covered by packaging of betel nuts. Most of the visitors who came to visit would grab a handful of samples and put them in their bags, and at the same time, open a package and put them in their mouths to try new Taste.
As dealers tried to eat and took samples away, a large blank area even appeared in part of the booth of another company’s Yellow Crane Tower.
Marketing expert Lu Shengzhen observed: “Most people who like to chew betel nuts are truck drivers. The main purpose is to refresh themselves and prevent sleepiness when driving. People who eat betel nuts are mostly overtime workers or groups who seek excitement. These people love betel nuts. The negative effects of stimulus are not well understood or valued. Most stimulus seekers are people in the reverse phase.”
The giant’s annual sales volume is 20 to 30 billion yuan, and the market scale exceeds 100 billion yuan
In fact, many leading companies have already deployed nationwide, and with the expansion of coverage, corporate income and industrial scale have also continued to expand.
Weihua Gong, Marketing Director of Taste King Group, once stated that in 2018, the Hecheng Tianxia betel nut under Taste King continued to sell well in Hunan, Guangdong, Hubei and other provinces, with cumulative sales exceeding 400 million packs. The products cover 415 cities in many provinces including Hunan, Hubei, and Guangdong, as well as Jiangxi, Hainan, Guizhou, etc. The coverage area has doubled from 2017. At the beginning of 2018, Zhang Xinfa also issued the “Zhang Xinfa National Brand Strategy”: Starting from 2018, it will fully enter the national market, and after three years, its stores and products will fully cover the country.
With the increase in the scope of sales, the scale of the betel nut industry is also expanding. Xiangtan City, Hunan Province once proposed to “build a famous cultural city of betel nut in China, expand and strengthen the betel nut industry, and ensure that the sales revenue of the betel nut industry will reach 30 billion yuan in three years and the goal of 50 billion yuan in five years.”
According to Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the Chinese food industry, with the spread of betel nut sales from Hunan, Hainan, and Guangdong to Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi and other places in the north, the scale of the betel nut industry in China should have exceeded 1,000. 100 million yuan, and it is constantly expanding. The sales scale of the company has repeatedly set new highs, and the annual sales scale of Taste King has exceeded 20 billion yuan. A distributor of Zhang Xinfa also told Blue Whale Finance reporter that Zhang Xinfa’s annual sales volume exceeds 10 billion yuan.
The scale of enterprises tens of billions and the scale of markets of hundreds of billions are already extremely high goals for many food companies. The sales of the three squirrels, the snack food giant, only exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2019, and in 2020 it will fall back to below 10 billion yuan. The scale of China Resources C’estbon, which has a national layout and is supported by central enterprises, is only over 10 billion yuan. Dali Foods has dozens of factories throughout the country, and its annual revenue is only more than 20 billion yuan.
Companies such as Taste King and Zhang Xinfa rely on betel nuts to achieve a scale of more than 10 billion yuan, which is really surprising.
It is worth noting that the data shows that the sales volume of betel nut is still growing at an average annual rate of more than 20%, and the future scale will be very large.
People flow from north to south, product prices are high and profitable, and the industry develops too fast
The rapid development of the betel nut industry is mainly due to the flow of personnel, the high unit price of betel nut and the high profitability, the large investment of enterprises, and its addictive characteristics.
“The rapid development of the betel nut industry in recent years is mainly due to population migration. First, the population of Guangdong, Hunan and other provinces has flowed to the whole country. On the other hand, many people in the north are working in the south and they have accepted the eating habits of the south. Surrounding consumers. Henan people have many workers in many southern provinces, and for a long time, they also chewed betel nuts under the influence of locals. Therefore, Henan has become the first bridgehead for betel nuts to go north.” Zhu Danpeng told reporters.
Another reason is that the high unit price of betel nut products has a large profit margin, which attracts a large number of enterprises and distributors to enter, and promotes the continuous expansion of the market. A consumer in Hunan told a reporter from Blue Whale Finance that in the past few years, the price band of betel nut products was around 5 yuan, but now it has reached more than 20.
It is understood that betel nut has a variety of categories such as medium seeds, upper seeds, grain seeds, research brains, and supreme research brains. At present, the unit price of low-end products is about 15 yuan per package, and high-end products have reached 100 yuan. In October 2020, Taste King launched Hecheng Tianxia high-end betel nut with a single package price of 100 yuan. Prior to this, Taste King also released a single package of 30 yuan and 50 yuan products.
The high price also leaves plenty of room for dealers.
A price list of the Yellow Crane Tower investment policy obtained by a reporter from Blue Whale Finance shows that if a dealer makes a payment of 39,800 yuan, he can purchase a product with a retail price of 10 yuan at a price of 5.3 yuan, which means that the dealer 47% of the profit margin is operating; you can purchase it at a price of 4.3 yuan with a payment of 99,800 yuan, and the profit margin is greater. And the higher the price of a single package, the greater the profit margin. The official franchise information of another brand, Zhang Xinfa, shows that a total investment of about 220,000 yuan in an 80-square-meter specialty store in a fourth-tier city can make a profit of 261,600 yuan in one year.
Regarding this policy, a food distributor told a reporter from Blue Whale Finance: “As long as you dare to do it, the effort is strong enough and you will definitely make money.”
The confidence of the dealer’s words stems from the addictive nature of betel nuts. According to industry insiders, betel nut is a fast-moving product in the fast-moving field. The annual sales of dealers are generally between 50 million and 100 million yuan. The prospect is very broad, and it is developing rapidly, with high profits and large return on investment.
Because of this, the layout of betel nut is getting faster and faster. Some consumers on the Internet said that when they were going to school in Changsha in 2006, they could only buy one or two brands of betel nuts. In 2010, the surrounding betel nuts of the graduate school were already dazzling. When I went to Shanghai on business in 2013, I went to Nanjing on business in 2015, and when I went to Beijing on business in 2017, betel nuts can be bought in big cities.
Lu Shengzhen told the Blue Whale Financial reporter that the manufacturer only talks about the benefits of betel nut, and avoids the harm to it. It is difficult for consumers to know exactly how harmful are areca nuts.
National standards are missing, and industry development urgently needs to be regulated
What is not commensurate with the 100 billion betel nut market is the construction of product standards. At present, the enterprises of Taste King and Zhang Xinfa adopt the local standard of Hunan: DB43/132-2004. Although the standard clearly stipulates specific physical and chemical indicators and other items, it is difficult for local standards to be implemented nationwide.
Due to the lack of standards, there have been fights in various places, and enterprises have suffered. In 2018, in the field of spicy tiao food, there were situations in Henan and Hubei due to the inconsistent local standards for spicy tiao, and Weilong was the most affected.
A person in the food legal profession told the Blue Whale Financial reporter that betel nut is addictive. According to relevant documents, betel nut is also a first-class carcinogen. With the rapid development of betel nut throughout the country, relevant standards and even relevant standards need to be formulated. The laws governing its development.
Many friends around the reporter reported that some relatives and friends regretted the cancer caused by long-term consumption of betel nut.
Nutrition expert Lu Shaofeng believes that betel nut needs a comprehensive understanding. First of all, betel nut is a kind of medicinal material that can refresh the mind. At the same time, betel nut is also a kind of spice, but the usual amount is very small. However, if chewed as a snack for a long time, it is harmful to the body and can lead to addiction. Addiction is mainly due to the alkaloids contained in it, which causes people’s dependence. In addition, chewing betel nut for a long time will also lead to mental dependence. “It feels comfortable to chew in the mouth, and it becomes a habit.”
As far as carcinogenesis is concerned, as early as 2003, the International Center for Cancer Research (IARC), a subsidiary of the World Health Organization (WHO), recognized betel nut as a first-degree carcinogen, that is, a substance that is determined to be carcinogenic to the human body. In the list of carcinogens published by the State Food and Drug Administration in 2017, there are three carcinogens related to betel nut, namely betel nut, tobacco-containing betel nut chew and tobacco-free betel nut chew. Xiangya Hospital of Central South University also conducted a survey in Xiangtan, and found that 66% of betel nut chewers had oral mucosal lesions, while the figure for those who did not chew betel nut was only 1.5%.
In fact, some places have already issued relevant regulations to restrict the development of the betel nut industry. In 1996, Xiamen issued a ban: Those who produce and sell betel nuts in Xiamen shall be ordered by the municipal administrative departments for industry and commerce to stop illegal activities and be fined between 1,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan. Anyone who eats betel nut in violation of the regulations shall be fined from 100 yuan to 1,000 yuan by the municipal administrative departments of health at all levels.
At that time, Xiamen became the only city that banned the production, sale and consumption of betel nuts. However, currently on the Meituan APP, there will be a link to sell the flavor king betel nut in Xiamen.
In 2019, the Hunan Betel Nut Food Industry Association also stopped all betel nut production enterprises in Hunan from all domestic advertising. In 2021, the advertising placement of Xiangtan Shop still appeared in the “Tucao Conference” program.
Some people in the legal profession even believe that betel nut sales should be stopped directly due to the addictive and carcinogenic potential. Lu Shengzhen believes that there is a market for betel nut as long as it cannot be restrained or there are no obvious restrictions. It has a long history of eating, and it has become a folk custom in the South. However, if there are definite side effects, they should be restricted through food supervision as soon as possible to reduce their harmfulness.
Zhu Danpeng believes that from the current point of view, reducing the harmfulness of betel nuts may lead to a change in its taste and loss of the market. Businesses do not have much motivation to do this. However, consumers are still advised to try their best to buy large-brand, high-quality products, which are relatively less harmful.
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