Local milk formula promoted

The China Dairy Industry Associa-tion (CDIA) promoted new baby formula products of six domestic dairy makers during a press conference -Saturday in a bid to restore -Chinese consumers' trust in domestic dairy products.

The six companies are Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, China Mengniu Dairy Co, Heilongjiang Wondersun Dairy Co, Feihe International Inc, Wissun International Group and Treasure of Plateau.

The recommended new products were proven to have reliable quality, Song Kungang, secretary-general of the CDIA, said at the press conference.

The collective promotion is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic baby formula brands, Song said, noting his association will also promote quality products from other companies later.

Senior executives of the six companies made their commitment to offer quality and safe products.

Mengniu and Wondersun both told the Global Times Saturday that the event demonstrates government support, which is an opportunity for domestic baby formula brands.

The six promoted products are all high-end brands, as authorities hope these products can compete with overseas rivals which dominate the baby formula market, Song Liang, an industry analyst with the Distribution Productivity Promotion Center of China Commerce, told the Global Times.

The highlight of the confe-rence was the promises made by the domestic dairy firms about their product quality; -however, the product recommendation will have a limited effect in boosting consumers' trust, Song Liang said.

The government is expected to adopt stricter supervision over the six companies in order to prevent quality problems; if any of them has quality problems, the government will issue severe punishment, he said.

China's dairy firms have been hard hit by product qua-lity scandals in recent years, with the biggest being a tainted melamine scandal in 2008. In 2011, some of Mengniu's products were found to have excessive carcinogen.

Carrie Yu, the mother of a nine-month-old baby, told the Global Times Saturday that she still has concerns about the quality of domestic dairy -products, and said she would buy European brands, especially as New Zealand's dairy company Fonterra was hit by a contamination scare in August.

A 30 billion yuan ($4.91 billion) government fund to support the sector was not announced at the conference as previously reported, but the authorities will announce funding support to major firms in the sector soon, Zhu Danpeng, an analyst with food industry research firm 21food.cn, told the Global Times Saturday.

The six producers were the first ones selected, but other competitive companies will also have a chance to get -government support, he noted.

Zhu Hongren, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). told the conference that the MIIT will speed up consolidation of the sector to develop large and competitive companies and encourage dairy firms to build their own raw milk bases.

The MIIT said in a plan in August it would cut the number of domestic baby formula firms from 127 currently to 50

Local dairy brand Wondersun said it would be open to possible cooperation with other dairy firms. Wondersun has strengths in raw milk and technology, but is weak at marketing, so it is willing to work with other companies with strengths in marketing, Yu Ningjiang, Wondersun spokesman, told the Global Times Saturday.

Four foreign brands - Mead Johnson, Dumex (a unit of French company Danone). Wyeth and Abbott Laboratories - accounted for a 42.7 percent share of China's baby formula market in 2012, according to market research company Nielsen.