06 May 2021
As trade tensions with China increase, Australian industries as diverse as cotton, barley, coal and meat are being forced to reassess their export strategies.
Now a new report highlights how the dairy industry plans to become less reliant on the Chinese market by focusing on ASEAN-6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
China’s appetite for milk demonstrates it middle class rise to affluence and its overcoming of hurdles, namely the populations widespread lactose-intolerance and the fact there hasn’t been a historical a market for milk in China.
Today, China is the third-largest milk producer in the world, with an estimated 10.2 billion litre deficit of milk in 2020, projected to reach 15 billion litres in 2030.
China suffers from water scarcity, and thus has been buying land and water rights abroad, as well as establishing large-scale processing factories in other countries.
In 2019, approximately 35 per cent of Australian dairy exports went to China, with 30 per cent to Southeast Asia.
Diversifying further into South East Asia provides great opportunities for WA Diary producers into those markets as those 6 countries have existing large and increasing populations, increasing urbanisation and a growing middle-class with purchasing power.
And hopefully, in the future, more of South East Asia will be enjoying WA milk and milk based products!
Sources!
Story
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/29/can-the-world-quench-chinas-bottomless-thirst-for-milk
https://dynamicbusiness.com.au/topics/news/australian-dairy-industry-shifts-its-focus-from-china-to-southeast-asia.html
Image
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-chinese-are-paying-8-litre-for-fresh-australian-milk-2014-5
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