China Online Food & Beverage Sales Rose 5.1% in H1 2026

China's online food and beverage sales rose 5.1% to CN¥ 304.57 billion in the first half of 2026 on mainstream e-commerce platforms, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, while the number of items sold grew 3.8%. Value therefore ran ahead of volume, in a market where snack food remained the largest category, at CN¥ 71.99 billion.

These figures come from the first chapter of the full report.

Key figures

• CN¥ 304.57 billion: online food and beverage sales, H1 2026
• +5.1%: sales growth on H1 2025, against +3.8% for volume
• CN¥ 71.99 billion: snack food, the largest category
• +24.2%: meat products, the fastest-growing category, with instant food at +12.0%
• January: the peak month of the half, on New Year shopping ahead of the Spring Festival

Method and scope: observed online sales on mainstream e-commerce platforms in China, January to June 2026 against the same months of 2025, from Moojing Market Intelligence; not the total market.

How big was China's online food and beverage market in H1 2026?#

China's online food and beverage sales reached CN¥ 304.57 billion in the first half of 2026 on mainstream e-commerce platforms, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, +5.1% on the same months of 2025, in a half of steady growth in which the increase came from higher prices per item as well as from more items bought.

Because the same platforms are measured in the same way in both years, the figure shows clearly the direction in which online spending moved, with value moving faster than volume, and it is that direction the rest of the report follows category by category.

Why did sales grow faster than volume?#

We read the gap between sales growth and volume growth as a sign that the industry is moving away from winning on volume and towards adding value through quality.

In a market as large and as established as this one, there is only so much room for growth from more people buying more items, which is why the gap between value and volume matters more than either figure on its own. Our view is that the brands creating growth are those that tie their products to a specific health claim or a specific moment, such as a workout, a snack at the office or an evening in front of a series. A product that is bought for a reason can carry a higher price than one that is simply bought again.

When in the half did Chinese shoppers spend the most?#

January was the peak month of the first half of 2026, as New Year shopping ahead of the Spring Festival pushed online food and beverage spending to its high point on mainstream e-commerce platforms. Sales then settled into a stable post-festival pattern from March to June, and units followed the same course.

Exhibit 2. Source: Moojing Market Intelligence, observed online sales on mainstream e-commerce platforms in China, January to June 2026, by month. Not the total market.

The festival peak is a familiar pattern in Chinese food and drink, since gifts, snacks for visiting family and drinks for the reunion dinner are all bought in the weeks before the holiday. Because the holiday moves with the lunar calendar, anyone comparing single months across years should allow for where it falls, which is why we read the half as a whole as the fairer measure of where the market stands.

Which food and beverage categories grew fastest?#

Meat products were the fastest-growing food and beverage category online in the first half of 2026, at +24.2%, while instant food grew 12.0%, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, on demand driven by the Spring Festival, prepared dishes, fitness and snacking, while snack food remained the largest category by sales.

We believe both categories owe much to the way people in China now eat at home, since meat products and instant food are the categories that prepared dishes, quick meals and protein snacks draw on. Both stand to gain as more meals are put together at home in a few minutes. Snack food is large enough that its own performance shapes the market's, which is why the report gives it a chapter of its own. There the pattern of the whole market is sharper still, since snack sales rose while the number of snacks sold fell.

How is the structure of the market changing?#

Seen through growth, scale and average price together, China's online food and beverage categories formed a clearly layered structure in the first half of 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence. Higher-priced categories anchor profit on their ticket size, everyday staples hold large sales under more pressure, and a set of smaller categories supplies much of the growth.

The report maps each of the main sub-categories by its sales, its growth and its average price. The picture it gives is of a market in which demand for healthier and better-quality products is moving the industry from competing on scale towards competing on value, whether the product is an everyday staple or a premium one.

What does the rest of the report cover?#

The rest of the report follows the same shift from scale to value through three parts of the market. It begins with snacks, where sales grew while volume fell, moves to high-protein snacks and the selling points that snack products compete on, and ends with beverages, where efficacy claims grew fastest.

Each of those chapters is the subject of an article of its own in this series, and the picture of the category over the full year of 2025 is in our article on China's food and beverage market in 2025. For the exhibits behind the figures here, including the category map and the monthly series, see the full report, and our China FMCG and food and beverage market intelligence page sets out what else we cover in the category.