HOHHOT - The
dairy products processing industry, since
development started in 1994, has become a
well-equipped, modern food processing industry
which offers fairly complete product lines.
At the 11th annual meeting of the China
Dairy Products Association, held recently in
Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia ,
association director Song
Kungang summed up the sector's development with
six key findings:
Production of dairy products has grown by many
times to meet increasing market demand. In 2004,
China's milk output was 23.68 million tons, 2.5
times the figure in 1995; the total output value
of the dairy industry, 66.3 billion yuan, up
7.5-fold; and per capita expenditure on dairy
products by urban households, 124.7 yuan, up
3-fold from 1995. Dairy products have become a
daily staple for many Chinese, which was not the
case in the past.
Technical capability has greatly improved,
nearing the level of advanced dairy countries. In
the past 10 years, China has newly launched,
expanded and technically renovated many dairy
projects, and the technical level of large and
medium-sized enterprises has clearly improved.
The production scale of enterprises has
expanded rapidly, and a number of large
enterprises with brand products of their own have
emerged. The top 10 dairy producers in China in
1995 produced 56,000 tons of dairy products in the
year, valued at 1.04 billion yuan, accounting for
10.6% and 13.3% of the country's total,
respectively, in that year. In 2004, the top 10
producers produced 4.695 million tons, or 37.68
billion yuan worth of dairy products, accounting
for 49.5% and 56.8% of the country's total.
Product quality has obviously improved.
The breadth of product lines has improved.
China produced 8 million tons of liquid milk in
2004 with an output value reaching 40 billion
yuan, accounting for 60% of China's total output
value of dairy products in the year.
The area of consumption has changed greatly,
with the focus shifting from large and
medium-sized cities to small cities and towns and
rural areas.
