China’s controversial policy for limiting family size to control population is being relaxed further, with families being allowed to have up to three children.

For decades it had been limited to one and was relaxed to two children in 2015.

The reason for this policy is that China is now concerned about its ageing population, which is a threat to economic growth being sustained in the longer term.

A spin-off from this policy change will be further demand for dairy products, particularly infant formula.

This will be particularly welcome as infant formula sales have fallen by €57m in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period last year, with €48m of this decline accounted for by falling sales to wider China which included Hong Kong.

Overall Chinese demand for dairy imports continues to increase and has been the driver of the strong global dairy trade in recent months.