Reporter Xu Jianhua.
During the Spring Festival this year, when Mr. Wang, who lives in Huanggang City, Hubei Province, visited relatives and friends, milk became one of his must-bring gifts.
Just after the Spring Festival holiday, Ms. Zhang, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, ordered daily fresh milk for her family, so that her family can drink high-quality milk every day.
The "Food and Beverage 2024 Spring Festival Peak Season Review" released by Soochow ** on February 19 pointed out that dairy products will be sold vigorously during the Spring Festival in 2024, and there is a strong demand for gifts in the tide of returning to the hometown. For example, Yili shares benefit from the increase in passenger flow in lower-tier cities, and terminal sales are expected to increase by 10% year-on-year during the Spring Festival.
Taking advantage of the Spring Festival consumption boom, Mengniu has comprehensively carried out the theme activity of "Strong Start of the New Year, Healthy and Natural Good Color" in major supermarkets, specialty stores, online e-commerce, mini programs and other channels across the country, and achieved a 'good start' in the New Year with booming production and sales. The relevant person in charge of Mengniu told reporters that during the Spring Festival, Mengniu's major factories were working at full capacity.
Dairy analyst Song Liang believes that the consumption of dairy products in this year's Spring Festival market shows three major characteristics: first, visiting relatives and friends to give gifts to stimulate consumption, contributing more than 40% of the increase in dairy consumption; Second, the growth of regions below the third and fourth tiers is obvious, contributing 60% of the increase in the consumer market; Third, cheese products (such as yogurt, ice cream, etc.) are selling well. For example, in Harbin, which is more popular this year, local products such as bigfoot ice cream are selling very well. During this year's Spring Festival, the consumption of temporary dairy products driven by travel and tourism is expected to increase by more than 30%. "Overall, the consumption of dairy products around the Spring Festival this year is better than the same period last year, and the overall sales of dairy products are expected to increase by about 10% during the Spring Festival this year. Song Liang said.
On February 3, the first document of 2024 was officially released, which clearly stated that it is necessary to "improve the standard of liquid milk, standardize the labeling of reconstituted milk, and promote the consumption of fresh milk". This is the 12th document guiding the work of "three rural" since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Why does this year's No. 1 document focus on the improvement of standards and labels related to liquid milk? Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, believes that the continuous improvement of consumption levels and demand has put forward higher requirements for dairy industry standards. "Only by improving the standard of liquid milk can we promote the better development of the industry and use good money to drive out bad money. ”
From the perspective of classification, the "Rules for the Management of Production Technology of Dairy Enterprises" divides dairy products into seven categories: liquid milk, milk powder, condensed milk, milk fat, cheese, milk ice cream and other dairy products. Liquid milk is a general term for pasteurized milk, sterilized milk and yogurt, and different milk names can be derived from different perspectives. From the perspective of consumption, liquid milk is also the bulk of China's dairy product consumption. The data shows that in 2022, liquid milk will account for about 77 percent of China's milk consumption4%。
The improvement of liquid milk standards will further promote the high quality and high price of domestic dairy products. In Song Liang's view, the first document specifically proposed to "standardize the identification of reconstituted milk", which will promote the industry to further digest the milk source, and the high quality and high price of dairy products require enterprises to use high-quality and high-price raw raw milk, which means that by limiting the use of reconstituted milk, enterprises are encouraged to use more high-quality fresh milk and promote the digestion of fresh milk, so as to solve the current problem of oversupply.
At present, China's national standards for dairy products include "National Food Safety Standard Pasteurized Milk" and "National Food Safety Standard Sterilized Milk". At the end of 2023, the revised two standards will be released for public comment. In the revised draft, there is a provision that reconstituted milk is to be banned from the raw materials of sterilized milk (commonly known as room temperature milk). In the definition of UHT milk and kept sterilized milk in sterilized milk, it is clarified that "only a single variety of raw milk is used as raw material", and "with or without recombined milk" and related regulations on the labeling of recombined milk are deleted.
The relevant person in charge of Mengniu said that the first document pointed out the direction and boosted confidence for the healthy and standardized development of the dairy industry. Mengniu always keeps in mind that "milk is safe", adheres to the bottom line of food safety, strictly abides by the national standards for liquid milk such as pasteurized milk and sterilized milk, and benchmarks against world-class standards, so as to dedicate nutritious and high-quality milk to the Chinese people. At the same time, Mengniu actively conforms to the consumption trend, lays out the fresh milk industry in advance, and creates fresh milk brands such as "Daily Xianyu" and "Modern Ranch" with the advantages of the whole industry chain, so as to comprehensively promote the consumption and industrial upgrading of the fresh milk market.
Zhu Danpeng believes that with the continuous upgrading of consumption, especially now that the public is paying more and more attention to health, the demand for fresh milk consumption is growing rapidly. At present, fresh milk accounts for about 20% of the dairy product consumption market, and there is a continuous growth trend.
According to the research report released by China Merchants **, China's liquid milk is undergoing structural upgrading, and basic white milk is upgraded to high-end white milk and low-temperature fresh milk. At the same time, the liquid milk subdivision track is differentiated, and the growth of low-temperature fresh milk is the best, maintaining double-digit growth; Room temperature white milk still has a single-digit growth, and high-end white milk is growing faster than basic white milk.
In the past two years, especially this year, cost-effective dairy products are slowly changing the consumption habits of Chinese people. Song Liang said that in the future, cost-effective dairy products will "fly into the homes of ordinary people". From the perspective of medium and long-term development, the consumption of cost-effective dairy products will shift from a single infant milk powder consumption to a diversified basic nutrition consumption for the whole family, especially to fill the consumption gap of special groups such as the elderly and the "three highs". Major dairy companies also need to continuously accelerate technical reserves and scientific and technological innovation, so as to better meet the health needs of the Chinese people.