Author: Small meal fee
Royal FrieslandCampina, which achieved double-digit growth in the Chinese market last year, got the latest market chips before the new national standard for milk powder officially landed this year.
Xiaoshi Dai saw that the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation announced a batch of "Infant Formula Milk Powder Product Formula Registration Approval (Decision Letter) Mailing Details List" last Friday and yesterday, and the Royal Mesojia series 1-3 (paragraph 1 named Royal Mesuli) products applied by FrieslandCampina Dummer Co., Ltd. and Stage 1-3 (paragraph 1 named Mesuli Yuanyue) products are listed respectively. This also means that up to now, FrieslandCampina's two major milk powder product lines sold in the Chinese market have all passed the new national standard registration.
Some analysts believe that with the official implementation of the new national standard for milk powder on February 22 this year, some brands will be eliminated by the market, and the milk powder brands that have cleared customs are expected to usher in greater market opportunities. For FrieslandCampina, which is currently focusing on the Mesojia brand in the Chinese milk powder market, the new national standard for customs clearance is undoubtedly a strong guarantee to promote the sustainable growth of its business in China.
Let's take a look.
New GB blessing
Xiaoshi Dai saw today on the special food information inquiry platform of the State Administration for Market Regulation that the Royal Meisu Jiaer series has marked "formula composition and dosage table, nutrition facts table, label change" and other information in the change column.
In addition, from the nutritional content information displayed on the website, the measurement units of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosatetraenoic acid (AA/ARA) have adopted the specific content unit "mg" that meets the requirements of "Infant Formula" (GB 10765-2021).
As FrieslandCampina's "trump card" in the Chinese market, Royal Beauty is also an important engine to promote the rapid growth of its milk powder business. The data shows that in the first half of last year, the net sales of Frieselland China achieved a mid-double-digit increase year-on-year, of which the net sales of Royal Mesojia increased by 37% year-on-year, which directly drove the revenue and profit of FrieslandCampina China's infant nutrition products to achieve a substantial increase.
At the same time, the Royal Beauty Jia Er, which focuses on "30 times lactoferrin", is also a super item of FrieslandCampina's layout of immunity subdivision track, and has established a good reputation among young parents in China. Chen Ge, president of FrieslandCampina China, previously revealed that according to Nielsen retail data, Royal Mesojiaer's market share reached a new high last year, and its share in ultra-ultra-high-end price band products has climbed from 6.4% in the same period last year to 8.1%.
According to the data, as one of the world's earliest lactoferrin manufacturers, FrieslandCampina is also the only manufacturer in the world that has both GOS (galacto-oligosaccharides) and HMO (human milk oligosaccharides), which has strong strength and advantages in nutrient research, and has always listed the scientific exploration of lactoferrin as one of the important directions. In addition to launching related products, FrieslandCampina also supports the research and demonstration of the immune mechanism and utility of lactoferrin in China, and actively shares the cutting-edge research results of lactoferrin with domestic experts and scholars.
In addition to Royal MesoJiaer, FrieslandCampina also launched the Mesojia Yuanyue series at the end of last year, which focuses on the "digestion and absorption" track for the "intestinal health" pain points that have received widespread attention. At present, the Meisu Jiaer Yuanyue series has also passed the new national standard.
Although FrieslandCampina has not yet disclosed the launch time of these two new national standard series products, Chen Ge has previously revealed that the market freshness of the company (products), the balance and freshness of the overall inventory are "at a very benign level". It is not difficult to guess that FrieslandCampina's new national standard products may soon appear on various channels.
Independent dairy analyst Song Liang believes that the new national standard for FrieslandCampina and other series will help FrieslandCampina further consolidate confidence in the brand in the market channel and consumer side, and help the product to maintain stable prices in the new year. "From the perspective of FrieslandCampina Group, FrieslandCampina's milk powder performance in China achieved steady growth last year, coupled with the successful passage of the new national standard, which strengthened the group's confidence in continuing to invest in milk powder business in China." He said.
He also said that after the landing of the new national standard for milk powder, the market concentration will be further improved, and for milk powder companies, it is especially important to maintain price stability and maintain the confidence of the channel in the brand. In the past, the high-end of milk powder products was more reflected in the pursuit of safety, and the logic of high-end in the future should be more reflected in the company's specialization, such as scientific and technological innovation and technology research and development.
Double-digit growth
In fact, after last year's strategic review, FrieslandCampina China decided to focus fully on the Mesojia brand, injecting impetus into the brand's sustainable development through product innovation and deep penetration. Chen Ge once said that FrieslandCampina China has achieved solid double-digit growth in the past three years, and the company's goal in 2023 is still to maintain solid double-digit growth.
Specifically, when talking about the development ideas of milk powder business, she believes that Royal Meisujia and Meisujia Yuanyue can play a "combination fist" through synergistic strategies. The two series are respectively oriented to the "immunity" and "digestion and absorption" tracks, and will match the corresponding investment strategies through different sub-categories and development trends in different regions in the channel layout. In terms of brand building, both will also open up the media contact points and interest circles of young parents, enter their minds with the help of digital marketing, and achieve full-link interaction.
Chen Ge, President of FrieslandCampina China
At the same time, Chen Ge also proposed that FrieslandCampina "should continue to bury its head in hard work and continue to penetrate the downline market" in the in-depth expansion of the market this year.
In addition, backed by the global R&D advantages of FrieslandCampina Group, the company will also deploy more in product innovation in the future, such as making efforts from technological innovation and raw material innovation, investing more resources, and continuing to iteratively upgrade the formula. It is understood that the latest research results HMO of FrieslandCampina Group have been approved by EU and US regulators and have been applied to products. In China, HMO applications are being reviewed by the competent authorities and are planned to be applied to the product as soon as it is approved.
However, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday showed that 9.56 million births in China in 2022 showed that the competitive pressure in the milk powder market continued to intensify this year. FrieslandCampina, which has received the new national standard "pass", will play what kind of cards will be played in the milk powder market this year, let's wait and see.