One of the world’s largest infant formula companies has said growth in the baby formula market in China is slowing due to the falling birth rate. Reckitt Benckiser, which owns the Mead Johnson infant formula business, announced third quarter results this week, which warned of slowing growth in China.

The group’s infant formula division, which uses Irish-made infant formula ingredients at its manufacturing plant in the Netherlands, recorded third quarter sales of £737m, (€850m) reflecting underlying sales growth of 3.9%. However, this sales growth is below the company’s medium-term target of 5% per annum.

“In China, our infant formula business continues to face challenging market conditions,” said Laxman Narasimhan, CEO at Reckitt Benckiser. The company said baby formula sales in the US are robust, but sales in China are moderating due to a decline in births in 2017 and 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT

Reckitt Benckiser said it continues to lose market share in China’s increasingly competitive baby formula market, which has slowed to single digit growth after years of rapid expansion.