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%, so that value 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, which follows China's online food and beverage spending from the market as a whole to snacks, high-protein snacks and the selling points that products compete on, and then to beverages.

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, followed by 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.

The figure covers observed online sales only, so it leaves out supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants and other offline channels, and it should be read as the size of the online market, which is one part of China's food and beverage industry. What it does show clearly, because the same platforms are measured in the same way in both years, is the direction in which online spending moved, and it is that direction, with value moving faster than volume, that the rest of the report follows category by category.

Why did sales grow faster than volume?#

Online food and beverage sales grew +5.1% in the first half of 2026 while volume grew +3.8%, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, and we read that gap 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, where most households already buy most of the categories, 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, because 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, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, after which sales 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, and because the holiday moves with the lunar calendar, anyone comparing single months across years should allow for where it falls, which is why we would 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%, followed by instant food at +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 of the fastest growers 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, and both stand to gain as more meals are put together at home in a few minutes. Snack food, at CN¥ 71.99 billion, is large enough that its own performance shapes the market's, which is why the report gives it a chapter of its own, and 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 now form a clearly layered structure, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, in which 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, and the picture it gives is of a market in which healthification and quality upgrades are pushing the industry from a pure scale orientation towards a value orientation, whether the product is an everyday staple or a premium one. For brands, we believe the practical question this raises is which need or which moment a product is built around, since the categories creating the increment in a largely saturated market are the ones that tie their products to health claims and daily scenarios.

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, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, beginning with snacks, where sales grew while volume fell, then moving to high-protein snacks and the selling points that snack products compete on, and ending with beverages, where efficacy claims grew fastest.

Each of those chapters is the subject of an article of its own in this series, and last year's picture of the category, measured 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.