China is third in dairy output after India, US

China overtook Russia and Pakistan to rank third in the world after India and the United States in the dairy products sector.

China's production of dairy products grew 15 per cent to reach 32.9 million tonnes in 2006, Liu Chengguo, Director of the Dairy Association of China, said. Liu attributed the rapid development of the country's dairy sector to a fast growth in the sector's processing capacities, 'China Securities Journal' reported.

Both industrial output and sales revenue of major dairy processing companies in 2006 were seven times the 1998 figures, standing at 107.4 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) and 104.1 billion yuan respectively.

Statistics show the number of major dairy manufacturing enterprises, namely state-owned enterprises and those with an annual sales revenue of above 5 million yuan, has doubled over the last seven years to reach 698 in 2005, and 14 of them boast a daily processing capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes.

There was also a significant rise in the consumption of dairy products in recent years as the consumer market expanded from large and medium-sized cities to towns and villages, Li noted.