Driven by the trend of healthy eating, high-quality dairy products are gradually gaining traction among consumers. Among them, buffalo milk has emerged in the dairy market with its unique taste and nutritional value, and related companies have also gained market attention.
For example, Baifei Dairy's performance has risen sharply in recent years with its online celebrity products such as "Baifei Cheese" and other buffalo milk series, which also gives it the confidence to stand on the stage of the capital market.
It is reported that Baifei Dairy has returned to the public transfer of Baifei Dairy after three years Recently, the national small and medium-sized enterprise share transfer system has also announced the public transfer prospectus of Baifei Dairy and a series of declaration documents.
However, considering the prominent niche characteristics of buffalo milk, the market is more concerned about the sustainability of Baifei Dairy's performance. Under the doubt, how should Baifei Dairy pass through the fog of development?
Based on the buffalo milk market, how does Baifei Dairy grasp the development dividend?
The category of buffalo milk can enter the public eye, mainly because of its high nutritional value, Huajing Industry Research Institute report has shown that the total solids, fat and protein content of buffalo milk is 167 times, 210 times, 160 times. As it is very much in line with the current trend of healthy eating, buffalo milk is also gradually becoming popular with consumers.
Public data shows that during the 618 shopping festival in 2022, the sales of buffalo milk products in Tmall Supermarket and JD.com increased by 200% and 74% year-on-year, respectively5%。In the first half of 2023, the sales scale of buffalo milk products on Tmall and JD.com increased by 42% and 75% year-on-year, respectively.
In addition, according to the index statistics, since 2017, the search index of the public for the word "buffalo milk" has increased by more than 100%, while the search index for the word "milk" has remained basically unchanged.
Due to the craze of buffalo milk on the consumer side, many tea and coffee brands have also launched buffalo milk series drinks, which has further promoted the prosperity of the buffalo milk market. Under the continuous expansion of demand, Royal Group, Guiniu Dairy, Shibu Dairy, Baifei Dairy and other enterprises have an advantage in the buffalo milk track, among which Royal Group has taken the lead in opening the door of the capital market. From this point of view, Baifei Dairy's sprint is also striving towards the goal of "the second share of buffalo milk".
The current development of buffalo milk enterprises is actually inseparable from the layout of e-commerce channels and social promotion. For example, Baifei Dairy's business has covered mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, Suning Tesco, and Douyin, and at the same time, by planting grass on social platforms such as Weibo and WeChat, inviting Internet celebrities and celebrities to promote buffalo milk products and improve brand awareness.
Specifically, compared with traditional milk, buffalo milk has strong niche attributes, and in traditional sales channels, the distribution rate and the highest degree are lower. In this case, e-commerce platforms have become the most effective way for relevant companies to break through geographical restrictions and directly display products to consumers across the country. In this regard, some experts pointed out: "The dividends of live broadcast e-commerce have allowed regional dairy products with characteristics to rise in the wind." ”
After the online channel is opened, in order to further improve consumers' awareness of the product, it is also necessary to use social ** to carry out key publicity. As we all know, as an important position of modern marketing, social networking has the advantages of fast communication, strong interactivity, and accurate audience, which can help enterprises establish closer ties with consumers, timely understand market demand and feedback, and continuously optimize products and services. At present, online marketing promotion has become a key driving force for the growth of leading dairy companies such as Yili, Mengniu and Guangming.
In this situation, enterprises in the subdivision of buffalo milk naturally need to keep up with the situation and take corresponding measures to enhance brand competitiveness. Judging from the performance of Baifei Dairy, the effect is also more significant.
According to the prospectus, in 2021, 2022 and the first eight months of 2023, Baifei Dairy achieved 71.4 billion yuan, 78.1 billion yuan and 6The revenue of 6.2 billion yuan and the net profit in the same period also reached 13.1 billion yuan, 11.5 billion and 15.1 billion yuan.
However, the continued increase in selling expenses also needs to be taken into account. The data shows that in 2019 and the first half of 2020, the sales expenses of Guangxi Baifei Investment Co., Ltd., the parent company of Baifei Dairy, increased year-on-year respectively. 4%。
In fact, the current development of the buffalo milk market to a certain extent leverages the Internet celebrity effect, and it is relatively easy to form a heat in the short term, but it is difficult to achieve long-term popularity so that consumers can repurchase products, which also makes the company's sales investment maintain a high growth state for a long period of time.
In addition, for buffalo milk companies such as Baifei Dairy, although they have explored increments in niche markets, the performance results achieved are still relatively limited, especially compared with traditional milk companies. In this case, breaking through the dilemma of the niche milk market and opening the growth ceiling have become the key to the follow-up efforts of many buffalo milk dairy companies such as Baifei Dairy.
To break the shackles of the niche milk market, the construction of the first chain is the key?
It is reported that the buffalo has high requirements for climate and environment, and is currently mainly distributed in the tropical and ** zones of Asia, Africa and other regions. Based on this, the buffalo breeding area in China is also relatively limited, mainly concentrated in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Due to the limitation of breeding scale, the domestic production of buffalo milk is not high at this stage. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's milk output in 2022 will be 39.32 million tons, while the national buffalo milk output will be less than 100,000 tons in the same period.
In addition, it is also worth mentioning that the problems of large investment, long cycle and high technical difficulty also affect the promotion of buffalo breeding projects, for example, in terms of breeding cycle alone, ordinary cattle are basically slaughtered in about one year, but buffalo takes more than 2 years.
The combination of the above factors makes buffalo milk a niche product, and its best quantity is far from meeting the growing market demand.
This contradiction between supply and demand has also led to an increase in the procurement cost of enterprises, and Royal Group disclosed in the record of investor relations activities in May 2023 that the acquisition of buffalo milk** has been stable at the level of 13-14 yuan kg for a long time, and has risen to 19 yuan kg in some areas. The black and white milk is generally 4-5 yuan kg, and the purchase price of buffalo milk is 3-5 times that of black and white milk.
Affected by costs, brand profits fluctuate significantly. According to the public transfer prospectus of Baifei Dairy, the fluctuation of the company's comprehensive gross profit margin during the reporting period is related to fresh milk**.
The data shows that in 2022, the average sales unit price of the company's sterilized milk will be 318 yuan box, down 1 year-on-year55%, but unit costs rose 4 percent year-on-year18%, mainly due to the purchase price of fresh milk is 753 yuan kg, a year-on-year increase of 679%, which also led to the company's gross profit margin in the same period increased from 35 in 202174% to 32%. In the first eight months of 2023, the average selling price of Baifei Dairy's sterilized milk rose to 33 yuan box, the cost is reduced by 1049%, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 4123%。
On the whole, the problems of limited production and scarcity of milk in the niche market of buffalo milk have limited the development speed of buffalo milk manufacturers such as Baifei Dairy. Combined with the existing problems, strengthening the construction of the first chain is undoubtedly the key to meeting the challenges.
Therefore, it can be seen that Baifei Dairy is constantly strengthening the construction of buffalo breeding base. According to the data, as of March 31, 2023, Baifei Dairy has a total of 8 self-built bases and 14 cooperative bases, with a total of about 2 buffaloes40,000 heads, of which about 1 can breed50,000 heads.
In addition, according to Tianyancha information, in April 2023, Baifei Dairy established the "Zhejiang Baifei Cheese Qijia Dairy Farming*** Business Scope, mainly for livestock breeding and fresh milk purchase. In September 2023, Baifei Dairy established another subsidiary called "Zhejiang Baifei Animal Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd.", which plans to raise livestock in the future and further expand production.
As one of the leading enterprises in the buffalo milk industry, Royal Group is also working closely with the Buffalo Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangxi University and other institutions to jointly study buffalo breeding technology and other means to enhance its own advantages in the construction of the first chain. It is reported that Royal Group has established 28 standardized breeding bases and 7 modern dairy processing plants in Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Anhui and other places, with an annual production capacity of more than 700,000 tons of various dairy products.
In contrast, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the production scale of Baifei Dairy, but its gradual strengthening of the construction of the first chain is also a process of waiting for the value to bloom, which can give the capital market expectations to a certain extent. From the perspective of returning to the industry, with the continuous improvement of residents' health awareness and consumption level, as well as the continuous promotion of the first-chain layout by enterprises in the industry, coupled with the help of channel marketing, buffalo milk is expected to have a broader development space in the future and has a relatively deep potential to become a mass category.
Author: Rong Jing.
*: Songuo Finance.