Baby Food in China 2008: A Market Analaysis

Abstract

REPORT COVERAGE

This report reviews characteristics, trends and developments over the 2001 to 2007 period in the baby food market and industry of the People' s Republic of China, and gives forecasts of market performance to 2012. The emphasis is on the retail market and the major industry players.

The report covers the following sectors:

• Formula milks
• Dried baby foods
• Wet Baby Foods, including wet foods in jars, chilled foods and canned foods.

KEY REPORT FEATURES

This recently updated report includes:

• An overview of China' s total food market with sales statistics up to 2007;
• The total value of the baby food market, including sector breakdown, up to 2007;
• Value provincial and urban/rural breakdown, up to 2007;
• Market share analysis of the formula milk market;
• Retail pricing trends for baby food products by province up to 2007, and by sector (2008);
• Volume & value forecast total baby food market in China up to 2012;
• Statistical analysis of China' s advertising, marketing and consumer trends;
• Key manufacturer profiles and financials;
• Key contacts & trade events;
• Overview of China' s demographics and macroeconomics.

Executive Summary

The baby food market in China is headline news - again - and for all the wrong reasons. The latest food poisoning issues that came to a head in early September 2008 are only the most recent of a spate of such problems in the formula milk market, concerning both domestic and foreign manufacturers. This sector has become a model case in regard to the problems facing food manufacturing in China, and in the wider economy, these focusing on there being too much reliance on a mass of poor quality product coming from hundreds of small-scale producers, many of whom are cutting corners to make ends meet, and thus compromising safety.

This report examines where the problems lie, both in the specific market, and in the wider food industry, and how the industry needs rapid and extensive consolidation, improvements in production and delivery standards and better policing of regulation.