October 23, 2006

China's dairy sector grew 10-fold in the past 10 years

With the rapid development of the dairy industry, China's dairy output have increased 10-fold over the last decade, said Songgangkun, president of China Dairy Association said on Thursday (Oct 19).

China's dairy output has hit 12.04 million tonnes, up 10.5 times compared to 1995.

However, there remain some challenges for the industry, such as total consumption, product variety and achieving international quality standards.

China's average dairy consumption per capita is 21.7 kilogrammes, a far cry from the world average of 100 kilogrammes.

In China, the main dairy products were liquid raw milk and processed milk products, compared to

In international markets cheese and butter, besides liquid milk products were an integral part of the market whereas in China, only liquid milk products form the bulk of dairy product sales.

Although the industry had initially faced a lack of large scale enterprises in the dairy sector, a few dominant players have emerged in recent years and have consistently improved the quality of its products through stricter quality control and distribution.  

Due to the huge growth potential in China's dairy market, China is becoming one of the fastest growing dairy sector in the world, Song said.