Products Launched
Dairy & milk powder
Summary: dairy and infant formula enterprises are tapping into the segmented sectors such as A2, probiotics, selenium addition and meal replacement.
| Brand | Product | Characteristics |
| Dr. Cheese | A2 platinum cheese lollipop |
|
| Biostime | Terroir (沃蓝) infant formula (Chinese label) | Exclusively available on the JD e-commerce platform. |
| Mengniu Yashili | M8 child growth formula milk powder | It contains Bifidobacterium lactobacillus probio-m8, a probiotics derived from breast milk. |
| Yili Shuhua | Selenium-rich lactose free milk | Each 100 ml contains 7.5 μg of selenium. |
| Mengniu Chunzhen | Meal replacement yogurt | Each bottle contains 7.4 grams of protein and 4.8 grams of resistant dextrin. |
Dr. Cheese A2 platinum cheese lollipop. Photo source: Tmall
Plant-based
Summary: Chinese plant-based market is continuing to booming with innovative products springing up successively.
| Brand | Product | Characteristics |
| Dali Doubendou | UHT plant-based yogurt brand Flogurt |
|
| Yinlu | Soy milk | Each 250ml box contains 6g of plant protein. |
| Dicos | Plant-based egg products |
|
| Beyond Meat | Chinese cuisines using plant-based meat | A cooperation with Beijing Jing Ding Xuan (金鼎轩) restaurant. |
| Peasup | Chickpea oat cookies | Zero cholesterol and zero sugar. |
Dali Doubendou UHT plant-based yogurt brand Flogurt. Photo source: Tmall
Trending
Summary: Sparkling water, low-sugar food and novel flavors are strongly trendy.
| Brand | Product | Characteristics |
| Pepsi | Yiweishi (依维世) soda drink | Zero sugar and calorie. |
| Mengniu | Lactic acid bacteria sparkling water |
|
| Lay’s | Spring limited potato chips | Flavors include bayberry, cherry blossom rice wine, and chestnut. |
| Xiangpiaopiao | Control sugar milk tea | Zero sugar and trans fat. |
| Green Chain | GFA avocado ranges |
|
Lay’s Spring limited potato chips. Photo source: Tmall
Health
Summary: new health products in this month are more about probiotics.
| Brand | Product | Characteristics |
| By-Health | Protein drink |
|
| Bloomage Biotech | Hyaluronic acid food brand Hyalur | The brand will launch six products, including hyaluronic acid white kidney bean slimming tablets, hyaluronic acid GABA sleeping and anti-aging gummy and other products. |
| WonderLab | Cranberry female probiotics |
|
| Miss Zero | Probiotics solid drink |
|
| Bright Dairy | Jcan probiotics solid drink |
|
WonderLab Cranberry female probiotics. Photo source: Tmall
Company Dynamics
Dairy
1. Chinese infant formula brand Beingmate announced to transfer its 55 million shares to Ningbo Xinda Huajian Investment Co., Ltd. at a price of RMB 5.49 per share. Ningbo Xinda Huajian is a state-owned enterprise. The share transfer made it replace Fonterra as Beingmate’s second-largest shareholder.
2. Chinese dairy brand Junlebao invested in Sikeqi Food Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Sikeqi specializes in retail cheese products such as cheese sticks, cheese pudding, cheese slices. It also provides butter, cream, and mozzarella for restaurants.
3. Chinese dairy giant Yili’s subsidiary Wholesome completed the equity delivery with Zhongdi Dairy. Wholesome directly held 1.141 billion shares of Zhongdi Dairy, accounting for 43.75% of the issued share capital of Zhongdi Dairy and became its controlling shareholder. Zhongdi Dairy's main business is ranch operations, including raw milk production and sales, cow feeding, breeding and sales. The transaction helps increase Yili’s participation and control over large-scale upstream animal husbandry resources.
4. In response to Bloomberg news that Royal FrieslandCampina NV may sell the Friso infant formula business, FrieslandCampina China emphasized that the Friso brand and the infant nutrition business would not be for sale, and the company is committed to long-term development in China.
Others:
1. Nestlé has collaborated with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi to release a new application called Nestlé Health Manager (Nesfinity) in China. consumers will be able to complete health data management and corresponding healthy diet guidelines through Xiaomi smart devices, and access Nestlé online shop to realize purchase and delivery.
2. Mars Wrigley, the largest business unit of Mars China, signed a cooperation agreement with Alibaba's intra-city retail business group. The two parties will cooperate around omnichannel and digital transformation in the future. Alibaba’s intra-city retail business includes new retail business represented by Hema Fresh and Tmall Supermarket, which can realize instant delivery for fast-consumer goods.
3. Starbucks' business in China had fully rebounded by the end of 2020. According to Starbucks’ first-quarter fiscal year 2021 results as of December 27, 2020, Starbucks China's revenue was US$911.1 million (approximately RMB 5.896 billion), and the same-store sales increased by 5%, which was the first positive growth since the COVID-19 epidemic.
Industry focus
1. From January 1, 2021, the national ban on plastic straws officially came into effect. KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and other chain restaurants have removed plastic straws and replaced them with paper straws or direct drinking cup lids.
2. From January 1, 2021, parts of dairy and infant formula enterprises saw price hikes. For example, Yili increased its white milk prices by 3%-5% and Mengniu by about 4%-5%. The main driver for the white milk price hikes is the rising raw milk price. But the main reason for infant formula price rise is to increase profits for the dealer team, which plays a crucial role for infant formula distribution in China.
3. China and New Zealand signed a deal to upgrade their existing free trade pact. By January 1, 2024, all New Zealand dairy exports to China will be tariff free.
4. According to data released by the Polish government, in 2020, the sales of Polish milk, milk powder, and cheese in the Chinese market increased by 70%, and China has become the fastest-growing market for Polish dairy exports.
5. As some batches of imported cherries in mainland China test positive for COVID-19, cherry prices fluctuated to a certain extent. Cherry nucleic acid testing certificate has become a must in many stores and platforms.
6. The post-90s generation has become the main force in purchasing the New Year goods. Hema data shows that the Top3 New Year goods purchased by the post-90s generation are: cherries, wine and fresh sea food.
Regulatory Updates
1. On Jan 7, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) approved 15 substances, including 3 new food raw materials, 5 new food additives and 7 new varieties of food related products. Sodium hyaluronate (commonly known as hyaluronic acid) was approved as a new food raw material.
2. China SAMR released a “Promotion Action Plan of Dairy Quality and Safety” on Dec 30, 2020, national standards for raw milk, sterilized milk, pasteurized milk, etc., will be revised by 2023. The document review, on-site inspection and sampling inspection of infant formula will be intensified.
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