Cheese Market in China

General overview
Since 1980’s, Chinese dairy industry has witnessed remarkable development. Especially in the past decade, milk production, dairy processing and dairy products consumption has been grown rapidly. In 2004, the volume of dairy cattle farming recorded USD 6.024 billion, which made up 5% total output value of animal husbandry; and 1.5% of the output value of agriculture. Meanwhile, the volume of dairy processing reached USD 7.991 billion, which accounted for some 10% of total output value of the food industry of the whole country (China Dairy Yearbook 2005).
Even though the market of dairy is growing rapidly, the total market size still is small vis-à-vis the total population of the country. This is simply because dairy products are not very much part of traditional diet. According to the Chinese Dairy Council, Chinese consume only about 150 grams of cheese per capita a year compared with 14 kg in the U.S. and 24 kilograms in France. However, the market is developing, especially in big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou etc. Now it is very common that people can find cheese at hypermarkets (Carrefour, Metro, Lianhua, NongGongShang, Wal Mart etc), western fast-food chains (McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza hut, PaPa John’s etc.).

Cheese production, trade and consumption
Up to now, cheese still is not one of the favourite dairy products for most Chinese people; the consumption of cheese in P.R.China has been increasing. However, amongst the total amount of the consumed cheese, the cheese imported from abroad took a big proporation. In another words, the own cheese production of P.R.China still is very limited. Possible reasons could be a) limited market demands; b) lack of relevant technology and know-how; c) insufficient raw milk production; and d) undeveloped cold-chain distribution (especially in rural areas).

Year Output Growth
2000 0.80
2001 0.70 - 20%
2002 1.70 142%
2003 1.20