7.5B Yuan Ginger Juice Drink Market Welcomes Major Player: A Well-Known American Brand Officially Launches in China | 2026 Consumption Trends

From March 26 to 28, the exhibition hall exhibitions of the 114th National Sugar and Liquor Commodities Fair (hereinafter referred to as the Sugar and Liquor Fair), regarded as the “trend barometer” for the national food and beverage industry, were held in Chengdu. During the Sugar and Liquor Fair, U.S.-known ginger drink brand Reed’s, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (stock code: REED), attended the event and officially announced its entry into the Chinese market.

At the venue, product lines featuring localized innovations—led by the Reed’s brand founder, CEO, and the China-region CMO executive team—made an appearance and kicked off business solicitation. With nearly 40 years of history, this brand’s new products targeting the energy drink market in China received positive feedback from distributors on site.

Data provided by Beijing Baiheze Consulting shows that the global ginger drink market size is expected to grow from 437B yuan (RMB) in 2025 to 8B yuan in 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.48%. In China, the ginger drink market size is 32.22B yuan in 2025.

On the 26th, Neal Cohane, who had just been appointed CEO of the company, accepted media interviews including those with Caixin Wire and responded to questions related to its product layout and industry development.

Neal Cohane, provided by the company

On entering China: localized innovation launches products

That morning at 10:00 a.m., Reed’s booth had already attracted a number of distributors who asked questions on site. On the top of its canned product packaging, the words “Ginger + Ginseng + Astragalus” were especially eye-catching, highlighting the product’s characteristics.

Reed’s is a company listed on the NYSE. Last year, its revenue was $34.06 million. The brand was founded in 1987 by Mr. Chris Reed. In its early years, during his travels in Asia, he was impressed by ginger beverage drinks; he then founded the brand and used natural ginger as the core ingredient.

Today, Reed’s has around 50 individual products. Its product lines are built around “Real Ginger” and “Craftsmanship Quality,” meeting different usage scenarios and taste needs.

This time, coming to “the homeland of ginger”—China—to better align with local consumption demands, Reed’s launched the “U-Oxygen” series of energy drinks specifically designed for the Chinese market, featuring an innovative combination of real ginger + Eastern herbal ingredients (ginseng, astragalus).

As Neal Cohane explained, the company began planning its entry into the Chinese market in June last year. The reason the products were only officially unveiled now is that the company had been continuously working on R&D in the meantime. The U-Oxygen products are built on maintaining ginger as the core ingredient of the brand, while also adding ginseng and astragalus, with the goal of being more localized and better matching Chinese consumers’ tastes.

Neal Cohane further said that the company ultimately adopted a combination of ginger plus herbs. On one hand, this stems from the company’s long-term planning for herbal formulations; on the other hand, it is also based on the company building a local team after entering the Chinese market. Based on their long-standing understanding of the herbal industry and the beverage industry, the company ultimately decided to launch the new U-Oxygen series.

Behind the innovation in launching products, Reed’s has also observed two major structural opportunities currently in China’s beverage market: first, the “modern soda/drinks” trend originating from Europe and the U.S., characterized by functional enhancement, is still in a blue ocean phase domestically; second, people in China have long had the habit of consuming ginger. As the pioneer of the “ginger drink” category, Reed’s is committed to bringing this beverage category—already well established in Europe and the U.S., with a market size of $4 billion—back to China.

On industry competition: the market is big enough to accommodate many brands

Reed’s new U-Oxygen series is an energy drink product. However, currently there are many players in China’s energy drink market, and competition is fierce. How will Reed’s respond to competition from industry giants such as Red Bull and Dongpeng?

On March 25, Neal Cohane, previously the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), was just appointed CEO. With more than 30 years of senior management experience in the global fast-moving consumer beverage industry, last year he was also responsible for Dongpeng’s U.S. market entry and for formulating its revenue strategy.

Regarding the above questions, Neal Cohane believes that China’s market is very large, and there is enough room for other brands to integrate as well.

Neal Cohane said that in the energy drink market, more important than anything is brand R&D and innovation. Reed’s entry into China has brought an innovative concept of energy to the market. The market is also large enough to allow the brand to develop well in China.

On-site photo, provided by the company

“We enter China with an international image, and we’ve gotten to know many competing products. Each competitor has its own advantages, but China’s market can accommodate the entry of many players across different tracks.” He said. He also added that compared with some competitors, Reed’s’s strengths lie in its “natural and healthy ingredients.” In China, “we use our advantages and characteristics to meet different consumers’ needs, so Reed’s is a very competitive brand.”

Reed’s entered China using a light-asset operating model. Going forward, it will also continue to invest more resources into the Chinese market. Neal Cohane said that China is Reed’s core focus market in Asia. In terms of brand building and channel development, Reed’s has been working steadily to truly tap the enormous blue ocean in China’s ginger drink market.

Now, in China’s market, online channels have become crucial to the beverage industry. From a channel perspective, what considerations does the company have? Neal Cohane told Caixin Wire that for online channels, the company will draw on successful experience from the U.S. market in partnering and promoting with athletes and internet celebrities. It also emphasizes that online and offline efforts should proceed simultaneously. “Online, our focus is building brand awareness. Offline, we will also roll out products widely and enter more channels. And we hope to leverage the brand awareness we build online to improve awareness and sales offline,” he said.