Imported milk up 7-fold in 6 years, accounting for one third of national milk consumption
“From my child's birth to age 3, I kept asking friends to carry infant formula back from Japan. I don't trust domestic milk, and with ‘carrying milk from overseas’ I also worry about ‘running out.’” Speaking of his experience of “carrying milk from overseas,” Mr. Ding, who lives in Harbin, was full of helplessness. The latest data from the China Dairy Industry Association is embarrassing——at present, China's milk output ranks third in the world, but imported dairy products account for close to one third of China's total dairy consumption. Why do consumers keep “carrying milk from overseas”? When will domestic milk be safe to drink?
Imported milk up 7-fold in 6 years
Mr. Ding's choice represents the mindset of a considerable number of consumers today. Although some countries impose purchase limits on infant formula, and even check “birth certificates,” many young parents in China's first-tier cities are still trying every way to seek overseas purchasing agents, and overseas online shopping for all kinds of dairy products remains booming.
Although China is a major milk-producing country, it is also a major dairy-importing country. Statistics provided by the China Dairy Industry Association show that more than 200 million jin of milk are sold on the Chinese market every day. Imported milk powder and dairy products each year, converted into milk, amount to about 12 million tons, accounting for about one third of national dairy consumption.
It is worth mentioning that after the 2008 melamine incident, imports of “foreign milk” increased significantly. Data show that China's imported milk powder surged from 140,000 tons in 2008 to 1.05 million tons in 2014, a more than 7-fold increase in 6 years. In the mid- to high-end infant formula market, the share held by foreign brands has increased.
“Why are consumers so keen on ‘carrying milk from overseas’? The main reason is still that after the melamine incident, consumers remain insufficiently confident in the quality of ‘domestic milk.’” Senior dairy analyst Song Liang said on this matter.
7-year “Ice Age” is thawing
“I used to buy imported shelf-stable milk. A 250-milliliter carton of imported milk cost about seven or eight yuan. Now for long-term drinking I still buy low-temperature milk from brands such as Sanyuan and Bright, because I know they are agricultural reclamation brands with their own milk sources, and a carton costing more than two yuan is affordable.” said Ms. Jia, a Beijing resident.
Today, 7 years have passed since the melamine incident, and the national dairy industry has gone through a long “Ice Age.” However, various signs show that after the melamine incident, China's dairy industry opened a comprehensive transformation, domestic dairy products have continuously gained international recognition, consumer recognition of domestic milk has improved somewhat, and the “ice” is expected to “thaw.”
“At present, the proportion of large-scale pasture farming in China is close to 50%, a sharp increase from 7 years ago, and the pace of industry transformation and upgrading has accelerated. The milk quality of some large domestic dairy groups has reached the international advanced level. It can be said that this is now the best period for China's dairy industry development since the melamine incident.” said Li Shengli, chief scientist of the National Dairy Cattle Industry Technology System.
⟦NL> Standard for controlling bacterial colony count exceeds the EU
The reporter learned that Modern Farming's liquid milk and Feihe Dairy's infant formula won gold awards this year at the World Food Quality Evaluation Conference, while Junlebao's infant formula passed the Global Food Safety Standard (BRC) A+ certification. In Junlebao's Tmall “Double 11” event last year and this year's “618” event, domestic infant formula sales surpassed foreign brands for the first time.
“Judging from quality and safety indicators, some of China's dairy indicators are not lower than those of Europe and the United States. In terms of milk protein content, most Chinese milk is greater than 3.0%, similar to milk in developed countries.” said Wang Dingmian, former executive director of the China Dairy Industry Association and senior dairy expert.
According to Wang Dingmian, since the melamine incident, state regulation of the dairy industry has been greatly strengthened. The Ministry of Agriculture began implementing raw milk quality and safety monitoring for 7 consecutive years starting in 2009. Monitoring data show that in 2014 the total bacterial colony count of raw milk from large-scale pastures in China was 173,000 per milliliter, with some enterprises below 20,000 per milliliter, far better than the EU standard of 500,000 per milliliter.
Milk · Production
High output——China's dairy cattle inventory has reached 14 million head, milk output has stabilized at 35 million to 38 million tons, ranking third in the world, and per capita dairy possession rose from less than 1 kg in 1978 to 33.8 kg in 2014.
Many varieties——Various products on the market such as high-temperature milk, yogurt, pasteurized milk, milk powder, and milk beverages are complete in variety and sufficient in supply.
New technology——In 2014, the proportion of dairy cattle farming operations with more than 100 head nationwide reached 45%, and the mechanized milking rate reached 90%, up 25 and 39 percentage points respectively from 2008.
Focus on management——Integrated operation of breeding, farming and processing is being accelerated. At present, there are 13,000 dairy farmer professional cooperatives nationwide, and the proportion of milk source bases built independently or with equity participation by dairy enterprises exceeds 20%.