TOPIC

/ company

Nongfu Spring

Nongfu Spring is a beverage company controlled by China's richest person, Zhong Shanshan. The company dominates the bottled water market in China, with nearly one in every three bottles sold in the country bearing the company's iconic green mountain logo. The company also produces packaged tea, coffee and fruit juices.

Chairman / President

Zhong Shanshan

CEO / Managing Director

Zhong Shanshan

CFO / Finance Director

Wu Limin

Industry

Beverage

Website

en.nongfuspring.com

Headquarters address

No. 15, Nongfu Spring Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310052, China

Stock Code

SEHK:09633

Year founded

1996

General view of the Exchange Square in Central. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong stock market

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Zong Qinghou, founder of Wahaha Group, attends a conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on September 18, 2013. Photo: AFP

US-China relations

Chinese tycoon’s proposed water deal spurs objections in US state of New Hampshire

Zhong Shanshan firm’s US subsidiary had planned beverage plant using city’s surplus water.

1 Aug 2025 - 2:31AMvideocam

Hong Kong stock market

Hong Kong stocks near 2-month high on ‘likely’ Trump-Xi trade talks

Talks between the US and Chinese presidents could take place as early as this week to break the impasse.

3 Jun 2025 - 4:40PMvideocam

Consumer protection in Hong Kong

Ex-head of Hong Kong Consumer Council denies departure due to company apology

Gilly Wong says she stepped down earlier this month after suffering from two serious bouts of cold that prompted her to ‘reflect on life’.

26 May 2025 - 7:14PM

Former chief executive of the Hong Kong Consumer Council Gilly Wong has said her decision to quit earlier this month was “absolutely unrelated” to a controvery last year involving Nongfu Spring, one of mainland China’s biggest bottled water companies. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong stock market

Hong Kong stocks ease from 2-month high as Baidu slumps on growth concerns

The market is likely to trade sideways as there are no catalysts to support a rally, Dongxing Securities analyst Lin Yang says.

22 May 2025 - 4:41PM

Consumer protection in Hong Kong

Hong Kong consumer watchdog chief steps down, says ready to start ‘new chapter’

Gilly Wong says she hopes to take a short break and ‘embrace a more measured pace of living’ while exploring ‘new horizons’.

6 May 2025 - 7:13PM

Consumers

Billionaire founder of China’s Nongfu Spring pledges to end price war

Low prices are destroying the quality of Chinese products and undermining the economy, tycoon says.

24 Jan 2025 - 11:00AM

Zhong Shanshan is China’s richest man and the founder of bottled-water giant Nongfu Spring. Photo: @newmoney_gr/Instagram

China economy

Opinion | Why Nongfu Spring’s online attackers are no Chinese patriots

Claims of Nongfu Spring being pro-Japanese are risible and attacks on the drinks company and its founder Zhong Shanshan only damage the country and its economy. The company should be celebrated, not pilloried.

4 Apr 2024 - 9:30AM

China's economic recovery

Deep trouble: China’s nationalists, boiling mad, put drinks firm in hot water

Attacks by internet users on China’s biggest water company have prompted concerns over whether other private businesses will come under boycott, hampering growth at a time when the country needs it most.

12 Mar 2024 - 9:14AM

Hang Seng Index

Hong Kong index compiler adds Nongfu Spring, Lenovo to gauge

Hang Seng Indexes Company, the compiler of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, has added Nongfu Spring, China’s largest bottled-water seller, personal computer maker Lenovo to the benchmark in its latest quarterly review, it said on Friday.

21 Feb 2022 - 2:55PM

Hang Seng Index

SMIC, Nongfu, Feihe tipped to join Hang Seng in latest index review

Five Chinese stocks are the common picks of analysts at CICC and China Renaissance as the index compiler prepares to unveil its rebalancing outcome on Friday.

16 Feb 2022 - 8:30AMvideocam

More mainland companies are likely to join the Hang Seng benchmark in the next rebalancing exercise. Photo: Reuters

IPO

Nongfu Spring beats market estimate in first post-IPO earnings report card

Hong Kong’s most sought-after IPO in 2020 beats analysts’ expectations with its first post-IPO earnings report. Billionaire founder Zhong Shanshan pledges to build its presence in the premium drinks segment to underpin growth.

25 Mar 2021 - 7:37PMvideocam

Drinking water produced by Nongfu Spring on display in a supermarket in Beijing. Photo: Handout

Millionaires and billionaires

The 5 billionaires battling for the title of ‘China’s richest man’

Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan might have booted Tencent’s Pony Ma from the top spot – he even briefly overtook Mukesh Ambani as ‘Asia’s richest man’ – but he might not keep his crown for long …

25 Mar 2021 - 5:00AM

Millionaires and billionaires

The failed business ideas China’s richest man tried before bottled water

Zhong Shanshan started out in journalism, farmed prawns and sold turtle pills before founding Nongfu Spring, the bottled water empire that would make him a multi-billionaire

22 Mar 2021 - 4:32PM

Millionaires and billionaires

This is China’s richest man – and he’s not in IT or electric vehicles

Zhong Shanshan, the chairman of Nongfu Spring, has survived hardships and controversies to make oceans of money out of bottled water

12 Mar 2021 - 12:03PM

Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring. Photo courtesy of Nongfu Spring

Millionaires and billionaires

How Zhong Shanshan unseated Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s richest man

The Chinese entrepreneur made US$71 billion in 2020 alone from making vaccines and his Nongfu Spring water – but he used to be a mushroom farmer and dropped out of high school

7 Jan 2021 - 11:21AM

IPO

How Hong Kong’s IPO market fared in 2020

The success of Nongfu’s IPO turned its founder into China’s richest individual, while the chairwoman of Blue Moon became one of the mainland’s richest women.

12 Jan 2021 - 2:42PM

Stocks

Hong Kong, China stocks rise, boosted by Nongfu Spring’s debut

Hong Kong and China stocks gained on Tuesday, after Chinese water bottler Nongfu Spring’s stellar trading debut offset a correction in technology stocks as well as a threat by US President Donald Trump to scale back economic ties between the United States and China.

8 Sep 2020 - 9:50PM

Hong Kong’s Central business district. Investors were trying to shake off the recent rout in technology stocks on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

IPO

Nongfu’s founder becomes one of China’s richest on bottler’s IPO debut

Nongfu Spring has become a record-breaking IPO in Hong Kong after it locked up as much as HK$677 billion – about a third of Hong Kong’s daily cash in circulation – in capital from small investors.

8 Sep 2020 - 11:01PM

Zhong Shanshan, the 65-year-old founder and controlling shareholder of Nongfu Spring, in an undated photo. Photo: WEIBO

IPO

Not a tech giant or start-up, water bottler is Hong Kong’s record-breaking IPO

Overwhelming response to Nongfu’s IPO is a sign Hong Kong’s capital market is roaring ahead in defiance of recession, a coronavirus pandemic and political unrest.

7 Sep 2020 - 11:07PM

IPO

Will Nongfu Spring’s Hong Kong IPO lead to more success for founder?

The listing will represent back-to-back capital market success for founder Zhong Shanshan, who also controls 75 per cent of Covid-19 test kit maker Beijing Wantai that raised US$49 million in a Shanghai IPO in April.

25 Aug 2020 - 7:54PM

Nongfu Spring will sell 388.23 million shares, which represent 3.5 per cent of its outstanding share capital. Photo: AFP

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Nongfu Spring

Hong Kong stocks cap longest win streak in 3 weeks as US inflation cools

Soft US inflation data strengthens the case for monetary easing as the Hang Seng Index gains for a third day.

Hong Kong stocks end 4-day rising streak as investors seek fresh catalysts

China minted a new billionaire a day last year, Hurun’s Rich List says

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Opinion | Entrepreneur scandals reveal the limits of nationalism as a brand

Chinese don’t need their country’s business leaders to be icons of morality and national pride. But they would like some accountability.

Chinese tycoon’s proposed water deal spurs objections in US state of New Hampshire

Zhong Shanshan firm’s US subsidiary had planned beverage plant using city’s surplus water.

Hong Kong stocks near 2-month high on ‘likely’ Trump-Xi trade talks

Talks between the US and Chinese presidents could take place as early as this week to break the impasse.

Ex-head of Hong Kong Consumer Council denies departure due to company apology

Gilly Wong says she stepped down earlier this month after suffering from two serious bouts of cold that prompted her to ‘reflect on life’.

Hong Kong stocks ease from 2-month high as Baidu slumps on growth concerns

The market is likely to trade sideways as there are no catalysts to support a rally, Dongxing Securities analyst Lin Yang says.

Hong Kong consumer watchdog chief steps down, says ready to start ‘new chapter’

Gilly Wong says she hopes to take a short break and ‘embrace a more measured pace of living’ while exploring ‘new horizons’.

Billionaire founder of China’s Nongfu Spring pledges to end price war

Low prices are destroying the quality of Chinese products and undermining the economy, tycoon says.

Opinion | Why Nongfu Spring’s online attackers are no Chinese patriots

Claims of Nongfu Spring being pro-Japanese are risible and attacks on the drinks company and its founder Zhong Shanshan only damage the country and its economy. The company should be celebrated, not pilloried.

Deep trouble: China’s nationalists, boiling mad, put drinks firm in hot water

Attacks by internet users on China’s biggest water company have prompted concerns over whether other private businesses will come under boycott, hampering growth at a time when the country needs it most.

Hong Kong index compiler adds Nongfu Spring, Lenovo to gauge

Hang Seng Indexes Company, the compiler of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, has added Nongfu Spring, China’s largest bottled-water seller, personal computer maker Lenovo to the benchmark in its latest quarterly review, it said on Friday.

SMIC, Nongfu, Feihe tipped to join Hang Seng in latest index review

Five Chinese stocks are the common picks of analysts at CICC and China Renaissance as the index compiler prepares to unveil its rebalancing outcome on Friday.

Nongfu Spring beats market estimate in first post-IPO earnings report card

Hong Kong’s most sought-after IPO in 2020 beats analysts’ expectations with its first post-IPO earnings report. Billionaire founder Zhong Shanshan pledges to build its presence in the premium drinks segment to underpin growth.

The 5 billionaires battling for the title of ‘China’s richest man’

Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan might have booted Tencent’s Pony Ma from the top spot – he even briefly overtook Mukesh Ambani as ‘Asia’s richest man’ – but he might not keep his crown for long …

The failed business ideas China’s richest man tried before bottled water

Zhong Shanshan started out in journalism, farmed prawns and sold turtle pills before founding Nongfu Spring, the bottled water empire that would make him a multi-billionaire

This is China’s richest man – and he’s not in IT or electric vehicles

Zhong Shanshan, the chairman of Nongfu Spring, has survived hardships and controversies to make oceans of money out of bottled water

How Zhong Shanshan unseated Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s richest man

The Chinese entrepreneur made US$71 billion in 2020 alone from making vaccines and his Nongfu Spring water – but he used to be a mushroom farmer and dropped out of high school

How Hong Kong’s IPO market fared in 2020

The success of Nongfu’s IPO turned its founder into China’s richest individual, while the chairwoman of Blue Moon became one of the mainland’s richest women.

Hong Kong, China stocks rise, boosted by Nongfu Spring’s debut

Hong Kong and China stocks gained on Tuesday, after Chinese water bottler Nongfu Spring’s stellar trading debut offset a correction in technology stocks as well as a threat by US President Donald Trump to scale back economic ties between the United States and China.

Nongfu’s founder becomes one of China’s richest on bottler’s IPO debut

Nongfu Spring has become a record-breaking IPO in Hong Kong after it locked up as much as HK$677 billion – about a third of Hong Kong’s daily cash in circulation – in capital from small investors.

Not a tech giant or start-up, water bottler is Hong Kong’s record-breaking IPO

Overwhelming response to Nongfu’s IPO is a sign Hong Kong’s capital market is roaring ahead in defiance of recession, a coronavirus pandemic and political unrest.

Will Nongfu Spring’s Hong Kong IPO lead to more success for founder?

The listing will represent back-to-back capital market success for founder Zhong Shanshan, who also controls 75 per cent of Covid-19 test kit maker Beijing Wantai that raised US$49 million in a Shanghai IPO in April.

Opinion | Entrepreneur scandals reveal the limits of nationalism as a brand