Focusing on the Two Sessions | The multi-dimensional suggestions of deputies to the National People’s Congress have injected new momentum into the high-quality development of China’s dairy industry

Photo source: Visual China

Blue Whale News, March 5 (Reporter Zhang Jinglun)At present, as living standards continue to improve, the food consumption needs of our residents continue to expand. People have completed the transition from being full to eating well, and are making the transition to eating richly and healthily.

Dairy products contain a variety of nutrients needed by the human body such as protein, fat, calcium, and vitamin D, and play an important role in improving people’s healthy living standards. After years of accumulation and innovative development, the comprehensive level of China’s dairy industry has been significantly improved, demonstrating strong industrial chain resilience and innovation vitality. According to statistics from China Dairy Association, in 2023, the total size of China’s dairy market will reach 500 billion yuan, and raw milk output will reach 41.97 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. Our country has also become the world’s fourth largest dairy producer.

As a just-needed consumer product, the per capita consumption level of dairy products in China will also continue to increase, and the market prospects will remain broad. Data shows that in 2023, the per capita annual consumption of dairy products in China will be equivalent to 41.3 kilograms of raw milk, an increase of 33% from 2012, accounting for only 1/3 of the global dairy consumption level, and the future growth potential is huge.

For traditional dairy industries, the need for innovation, transformation and upgrading still exists. During the 2025 National Two Sessions, many National People’s Congress deputies from the dairy industry focused on industry pain points and put forward suggestions focusing on dimensions such as technological innovation, industrial chain resilience, policy support, and consumption upgrading, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of China’s dairy industry.

Wang Caiyun, a representative of the National People’s Congress, senior expert of the National Dairy Technology Innovation Center, and director of scientific research at the Global Innovation Center of Yili Group, said that scientific and technological innovation will become a key force in promoting the leap-forward development of China’s dairy industry. Competition between China’s dairy industry and the global dairy industry will gradually transform into competition in supply chains, industrial chains, and even innovation chains.

Wang Caiyun pointed out that at present, the competition between China’s dairy industry and the global dairy industry has gradually transformed into competition in the supply chain and industrial chain and even competition in the innovation chain. Although the development level of my country’s dairy industry continues to rise, my country’s dairy deep processing industry has not yet been fully established, especially key raw materials such as whey protein, lactoferrin, and lipoglobulin membrane protein, which still face foreign technical constraints.

This year, Wang Caiyun put forward her own suggestions mainly focusing on promoting the development of the dairy industry’s deep processing industry and accelerating industrial upgrading with technological innovation to build a solid foundation for the development of the dairy industry.

Shi Yudong, a representative of the National People’s Congress and director of R & D of Mengniu Group’s Global R & D Innovation Center, said that the three stubborn diseases of insufficient category diversification, balanced contradiction between supply and demand, and insufficient resilience of the industrial chain have long restricted my country’s dairy industry to achieve high-quality development.

To this end, he suggested increasing support at several levels. First, we must expand the deep processing industry of refined dairy products. As a high-consumption milk industry, the dairy deep processing industry has large initial investment and long payback period. It is recommended to strengthen policy and financial support, encourage leading enterprises to take the lead in carrying out basic and original research and development, and solve key raw material security and safety issues through technological empowerment and transformation., independently control key technologies, realize the localization of core raw materials and the appreciation of industrial value.

Second, we must widen the new track for the dairy industry. Focus on precise nutrition, focus on industrial layout in high-potential areas such as special medical food, probiotics, and protein processing, and continuously enrich the dairy industry matrix and value chain.

Third, we must accelerate the application of R & D results. Promote the integration of industry, academia and research, and provide support and guidance in terms of policy and regulatory support, project matching, reward and subsidy funds, etc.

Fourth, we must strengthen the basics of liquid milk by improving the level of intelligent manufacturing. It is necessary to improve production efficiency, reduce costs, increase product quality, enhance consumer experience and expand market scale through the application of digital and intelligent technologies.

Leng Youbin, deputy to the National People’s Congress and chairman of Feihe Dairy, believes that promoting the technological innovation and industrialization of functional dairy raw materials is an urgent need to achieve high-quality development of infant formula milk powder (hereinafter referred to as infant powder) and functional foods. It is of strategic significance to promote the upgrading of my country’s food industry, ensuring the safety of the national food industry, and enhancing international competitiveness.

Leng Youbin suggested: First, increase policy subsidies. The state should support dairy deep processing enterprises to carry out technological innovation projects, focusing on breakthroughs in lactoferrin, desalted whey liquid, lactoglobulin, lactoglobulin membrane protein, osteopontin, casein and other key raw materials to promote the application of new technologies and new processes. Establish special financial subsidy funds to support technological transformation, equipment upgrades and new product research and development of enterprises, and provide land and financial support to enterprises building raw material production bases.

The second is to improve the regulations and evaluation system, combine the strict regulatory requirements for the production of infant powder, and establish special evaluation methods for new technologies, new processes and new products in the production of dairy functional raw materials. On the premise of ensuring quality and safety, timely adjust regulations, carry out special pilots for deep processing of dairy products, and promote independent technological innovation and industrial upgrading.

The third is to implement preferential tax policies to provide tax incentives to enterprises that use domestic milk sources to produce high-quality dairy functional raw materials to ensure supply chain security, stabilize fresh milk production, and safeguard food safety and the interests of dairy farmers. Enterprises engaged in the research and development and production of key dairy functional raw materials will be exempted from corporate income tax, value-added tax, etc.

The fourth is to strengthen talent training, encourage colleges and universities to offer relevant professional courses, and cultivate professional technical and management talents. Formulate preferential policies to attract high-end overseas talents to return to China to engage in R & D and production, and provide support such as housing and scientific research start-up funds.