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Bottles of premium water made by Yunnan Shangri-La Power Water Co Ltd are on display at a supermarket in Beijing. The capacity of the premium drinking water market will top 10 billion yuan in the next five years. [Nan Shan / For China Daily]

Domestic firms are targeting China's premium bottled-water market, which has long been dominated by foreign suppliers.

Last year Chinese consumed 21 billion liters of mineral water and annual sales of premium-bottled water are expected to top 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) in five years.

Several domestic water bottlers are now joggling for position to compete with the dominant market players like Evian and Perrier, which control 50 percent of the premium market, according to Chinese media.

Earlier last month, Hong Kong-based JDB Group, announced plans to market its premium brand, Kunlun Mountains Natural Mineral Water, in some 30 provinces and cities across the country.

JDB Group invested 340 million yuan ($50 million) last year to build a bottling plant located near Kunlun Mountain in Qinghai province.

The factory is expected to produce up to 245 million liters of premium water per year.

Other companies also tapping the premium market include Tibet Glacier Mineral Water Co Ltd with its "5100 Tibet Spring Water" brand and Guangzhou Xinchen Water Co with its "9000 Years Dagu Glacier Spring Water" brand.

The goal of these bottlers is clear: to challenge foreign domination of the premium bottled-water market.

"The capacity of China's premium drinking water market will surpass 10 billion yuan in the next five years with an expansion rate of 80 percent each year," said Xiao Mingchao, deputy general manager of Sinomonitor International, a Beijing-based market research company.

Analysts are skeptical whether domestic brands can steal away significant market share from the dominant players anytime soon.

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