Dairy industry grows with Chinese consuming more milk products

China's dairy industry production doubled from 2000 to 2005 to hit 28.65 million tons, said the China Dairy Association (CDA) Friday.

The latest statistics show the Chinese consume 21.7 kilograms of dairy produce per capita, an annual average increase of 14.6 percent from a decade ago, but just one fifth of the international average.

A huge variety of dairy products are widely available in both urban and rural areas, in contrast to three decades ago when the Chinese could only buy a fixed portion of milk with ration coupons.

The China dairy industry development report shows the growth of consumption per capita is in positive correlation with that of gross domestic product per capita.

The country's economic development is expected to drive up consumption.

China had 690 dairy businesses with 58 processing more than 300 tons of milk per day and 78 with sales over 100 million yuan (12.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2005.

"China's dairy industry is in transition from traditional to modern technology and techniques," said Liu Chengguo, secretary of the CDA.

The Eleventh Five-Year Plan of the Agriculture Industry and Economic Development in Rural Areas released by the Ministry of Agriculture sets a target for a national dairy production of up to 42 million tons in 2010.

However, the industry's output value accounts for only 5 percent of the stock-breeding industry, compared with 23 percent in the United States, 25 percent in Japan, and 30 to 40 percent in Britain and Germany.

Industry analysts are optimistic that if each Chinese consumes half a kilogram of milk a day, the country's dairy consumption will rise to more than a third of the world's total dairy production.

Liu said the development of the labor-intensive industry would help lower the rural population by moving labor from dairy and crop farming to the food processing sector and the service industry.

Source: Xinhua