(Yicai Global) June 5 -- China's beer sector has bounced back faster than expected, with significant jumps in ale sales rung up in various cities since April when the catering sector began to gradually revive as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided.

The market has been on the mend, booking double-digit sales rises in April and also good growth last month, Yicai Global learned from leading producer Tsingtao Brewery. All of the firm's 60-plus brewhouses across China are now running full bore.

China Resources Beer Holdings is watching sales that steadily grow and an overall operating condition that is actually better than in the same period last year, a person in authority at the large brewer told Yicai Global. The firm's management is hopped up about sales in May to August, when beer consumption typically foams over in China, and hopes to tap into this chance to swiftly recoup losses spilling over from the outbreak.

"Beer is the best seller, followed by baijiu," Sheng Mintai, an alcoholic beverage merchant in eastern Shandong province's capital city of Jinan, told Yicai Global. Sales of a domestic brew for which he acts as agent have nearly quadrupled in recent days from the same period last year, he said.

Other ale sellers are also quite bubbly about the market outlook. Business is picking up and some have clawed their way back to 80 percent of their pre-pestilence level, Yicai Global learned from various large chain distributors. Sales have also been clearly higher than those of other types of booze, especially last month, when demand for brewskis rose as the weather warmed and Covid-19 started to go flat, with suds especially in demand in thirsty regional markets like Henan and Shandong.

Guangzhou-based Zhujiang Brewery Group's sales swelled almost 10 percent in April from a year earlier, with an about six percent gain in May, it told its investors.

Market re-carbonation has in turn leavened steady gains in brewer's stocks. Shares of Tsingtao Brewery [SHA:600600] and China Resources Beer Holdings Company [HKG:0291] hit record highs yesterday, with a respective nearly 80 percent and an almost 50 percent recovery. Beijing Yanjing Brewery [SHE:000729] and Zhujiang Brewery [SHE:002461] also chalked up quite large gains compared with mid-March.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour