July 4, 2011

China's dairy production is continuing to recover from a tainted milk scandal in 2008, with output in 2010 reaching 35.75 million tonnes, up 1.6% from 35.18 million tonnes in 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday (Jun 30).

However, "the dairy sector has recovered to [its] pre-incident level" of production, it said.

Milk production in 2008 was 35.56 million tonnes, while 2007 output was 35.25 million tonnes, according to official data.

Many consumers lost confidence in the quality of domestic dairy products in 2008 after Chinese dairy producer Sanlu Group was found to have added the chemical melamine to its milk, causing illness in nearly 300,000 people and the deaths of at least six infants.

In the first five months of this year, China imported 268,537 tonnes of milk powder, up 49% from the same period last year, data from General Administration of Customs showed. Many Chinese consumers believe foreign dairy products are of better quality than domestic ones.

In 2010, milk-powder imports were 414,000 tonnes, a sharp increase of 67.8 from 2009, customs data show.

China's dairy consumption in urban areas was 23kg per capita last year, it said, compared with a global average of about 100kg.