Infant milk formula imports to China for the year-to-date to May are up 25.8% year-on-year, according to the latest CLAL, an Italian Dairy Economic Consulting firm, data.
China has imported 98,494t of infant milk formula to date this year, valued at US$1.3bn.
The infant formula market is valued in the region of US$35bn in retail sales per annum and, in 2015, Irish infant formula exports reached €1.5bn. Ireland is the second largest importer of formula to China.
Meanwhile, skim milk powder imports are up by 11.8% to a value of US$273m and butter imports to China are also on the increase due to strong demand, up 2.3% in the year-to-date to May to 38,322t year-on-year.
While whey powder imports increased by 10.6%, the value of these imports was up over 50% to US$259m.
Drop in imports
Three products saw a drop in the amount of imports: whole milk powder (WMP), milk and cream (-15.4%) and bulk and packaged milk (-23%).
Despite WMP imports falling 4.8% to 253.781t, the value of these imports increased by 21%.