September 8, 2006

China's dairy product output remains low

In his address to the fifth annual meeting of the Dairy Association of China (DAC) on Sep 1, Liu Chengguo, secretary of the association, revealed that China's dairy output value only accounts for a respective five and three percent of the output of the livestock farming and agricultural sectors.

In European countries, where modern agricultural sectors have developed, dairy production value normally takes the first position, constituting between 18 and 28 percent of the total value of agricultural production. In France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, dairy output accounts for 19, 25, 25 and 35 percent of the total value of agricultural output respectively. Among Asian countries, the corresponding figures for South Korea and Japan are 5 percent and 8 percent respectively.

In countries with a mature livestock sector, dairy output also makes up a bigger portion of the value of total livestock production. In the US and Japan, the value of dairy output accounts for a respective 23 and 25 percent of the total value of livestock production. In France, UK and Germany, figures ranged from 30 to 40 percent. In the Netherlands, the figure is well above 40 percent.

Liu added that in the past few years, the Chinese government has been putting greater emphasis on developing the diary sector, rolling out a series of measure aimed at supporting the growth of the sector. This includes, among others, subsidies to breeders of high quality dairy cattle. By the end of the eleventh five-year plan, the country aimed to raise dairy production volume to 42 million tonnes.