After the safety issue was clarified, Nongfu Spring rose more than 5% today, reporting 35 Hong Kong dollars, with a total market value of 393.626 billion Hong Kong dollars, rebounding for the second consecutive day. It should be noted that from May 3 to July 16, Nongfu Spring's stock price had fallen by nearly 31%.

Nongfu Spring's stock price had fallen by nearly 31% from May 3 to July 16..

due to a safety misunderstanding.

Recently, an article by the Hong Kong Consumer Council caused a misunderstanding about Nongfu Spring's safety issues. Currently, the council has issued a statement clarifying the matter and apologizing.

Today, the Hong Kong Consumer Council issued a clarification statement on its official website, stating that after meeting with representatives of Nongfu Spring and having in-depth exchanges yesterday, it learned that the product in question was neither "natural mineral water" nor "purified water", but rather "drinking natural water", and that the company uses the national standard for packaging drinking water in mainland China (GB19298-2014).

As a result, the Hong Kong Consumer Council re-categorized the sample as a separate category of "drinking natural water" and re-rated it. After the re-rating, the overall performance of the sample was adjusted from 4.5 stars to 5 stars.

On July 15, the Hong Kong Consumer Council published an article entitled "Drinking Water: 30 Bottled Water Flavors, Minerals, and Safety Testing".

The Hong Kong Consumer Council tested 30 common bottled water samples, and both Baisha Mountain and Nongfu Spring's bottled water samples had 3 micrograms of bromate per liter, reaching the maximum limit of bromate applicable to naturally mineral water and spring water treated with ozone in the European Union.

Subsequently, on July 16, Nongfu Spring sent a lawyer's letter to the Hong Kong Consumer Council, pointing out three obvious errors in the above-mentioned article and demanding a written clarification, apology, and elimination of all negative effects.

In the latest clarification statement, the Hong Kong Consumer Council reiterated that the chemical safety and microbiological test results of all 30 test samples were ideal, and no harmful substances exceeding the relevant standards were found. All products, including Nongfu Spring, can be safely consumed.

The council also stated that the main purpose of the article was not to point out product safety issues, but rather to illustrate the cost-effectiveness of each sample and the environmental impact of bottled water. The Hong Kong Consumer Council apologized for the misunderstanding caused by the misclassification of the sample.

Entering the purified water market.

Recently, Nongfu Spring has been very active and has begun to adopt a low-price strategy.

On April 23 this year, Nongfu Spring launched a new green-packaged purified water, as soon as it was launched, the price of this product dropped to "9.9 yuan for 12 bottles, including postage," with an average of 0.825 yuan per bottle.

Moreover, Nongfu Spring's new green bottle packaging is similar to Yibao's, a competitor. As a result, Yibao also had to take measures and lower prices for some online channels, directly targeting Nongfu Spring.

Nongfu Spring has always emphasized being the "porter of nature," and once announced that it would no longer produce purified water. Its red bottled drinking natural water was also deeply ingrained in people's minds.

This time, Nongfu Spring overturned its long-standing position of emphasizing natural water and launched a price war at the beginning of its entry into the purified water market, demonstrating its clear intention to grab market share.

Anything can be "rolled up." Nowadays, the beverage market cannot escape the fate of being "rolled up," with new entrants emerging constantly.

Since this year, Wahaha's pure water has been in short supply due to the frequent appearance of the founder on the hot search list.
In June, Yuanqi Forest launched drinking purified water with the marketing selling point of "0 sodium", selling at around 2 yuan per bottle.
In July, Pang Donglai revealed that he may launch his own brand of mineral water with a net content of 360ml and the specific price has not been determined.

The entry of Nongfu Spring and other brands may make competition in the industry increasingly fierce, and the prices of beverages may further decline, putting pressure on the gross margins of related companies in the industry.