Consumers slightly more confident in milk products: survey

Chinese milk products are slowly earning back trust of the country's consumers, a recent survey found.

The Chinese consumers' confidence index in liquid milk products edged up slightly in 2014, but was still lower than that for 2009, according to a survey released by the China Association for Quality on Thursday.

Covering 20 brands across 35 large- and medium-sized cities, the survey showed that the confidence index stood at 75.9 points out of 100, which is 0.5 points higher than that in 2013 but 0.3 points lower than in 2009.

It was the sixth survey since 2009 conducted by the Association, which is an organization under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the country's top quality control body.

China's dairy industry and consumers' confidence suffered a heavy blow after a scandal in 2008 in which baby formula was found to be tainted with melamine, an industrial compound used to create plastic and resin. The tainted formula led to the deaths of six infants and made 300,000 children across the country ill.

To help supervise the quality of milk products, the China Association for Quality has conducted telephone surveys since 2009, using a random sampling of telephone numbers to ensure the accuracy of the results.

Consumers' confidence index in liquid milk products from 2009 to 2014 was 76.2, 72.49, 75.6, 75.91, 75.4 and 75.9 points respectively.

According to the 2014 survey, more than 56 percent of the respondents considered the brand over other factors when buying milk products. Only one in 10 consumers considered the price first.

Last year, Chinese people consumed more than 35 million tons of milk products, mainly liquid and fresh milk.

This year's survey also suggested Chinese consumers' confidence in regulation over the dairy industry rose for the first time, with the index reaching 77.78 points out of 100, 10.56 and 10.34 points higher than that for 2013 and 2012, respectively.