Lack of trust in China’s domestic dairy producers persists

BEIJING - The processing equipment and methods of China's dairy product companies are world-class, but the companies still lack trust among domestic consumers, according to Li Ke, General Manager of Synutra International, on of China’s leading infant formula companies.

"China's dairy product companies have developed to a 'Louis Vuitton' level in the world dairy product industry in terms of processing equipment and methods", he told Chian Daily.

“(But) at present, even a tiny flaw in any domestic dairy firm, such as a small mistake on a product tag, could be unreasonably magnified by sensitive consumers as a fault of the whole industry, with the result of degrading the whole domestic industry.”

China’s baby formula market is estimated to be worth RMB 65.7 billion (US$ 0 billion) this year, and is forecast to rise to RMB 133.7 billion by 2020, according to a report citing Euromonitor International.

However, China’s public trust of its domestic dairy industry has been fragile since 2008, when infant formula produced by Sanlu Group, a leading domestic dairy firm, was found to contain melamine.

China’s food safety watchdog has issued a regulation designed to tighten supervision of baby formula,to take effect this October: Both domestic and overseas baby formula producers must register and secure permits from the China Food and Drug Administration if they want to sell their products in China.

However, Li says, the industry “still has a long way to go to regain public trust”. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).