Abstract: In recent years, the market size of the mainland dairy beverage industry has been expanding, in 2021, the market size of the mainland dairy beverage industry was 123.75 billion yuan, and the market size will exceed 130 billion yuan in 2022. With the development of the economy and the improvement of people's living standards, consumers' demand for dairy beverages is increasing. The dairy beverage industry can be divided into national large enterprises, national layout enterprises and regional small and medium-sized enterprises, forming a competitive pattern in which the advantages of national large-scale enterprises continue to expand, the development of national layout enterprises is accelerated, and regional small and medium-sized enterprises are deeply cultivated in the local area. In the future, the mainland dairy beverage industry will move towards the development trend of health and nutrition, digitalization and intelligence, and product diversification.
1. Definitions and Classification
Milk-containing beverages are beverage products made by adding water and appropriate amount of excipients to milk or dairy products as raw materials. Milk-containing beverages can also be called milk (milk) beverages and milk (milk) drinks. There are three types of milk-containing beverages: formulated milk-containing beverages, fermented milk-containing beverages, and lactic acid bacteria beverages. Among them, fermented milk-containing beverages can also be called yogurt (milk) beverages and yogurt (milk) beverages.
Second, the business model
1. Procurement mode
The basic procurement mode of raw materials for dairy beverage enterprises is "production by sales and purchase by production, taking into account inventory and procurement cycle to meet the needs of production planning". The main raw and auxiliary materials of the company include fresh milk, packaging materials and sugar. The raw material fresh milk comes from the company's own pastures, large-scale cooperative pastures, professional cooperatives, fresh milk traders, etc. When selecting fresh milk suppliers, from the quality management standards, animal inspection and quarantine, dairy cow feeding conditions, infrastructure standards, hardware equipment standards, large-scale breeding status, personnel professional level, operation norms, sanitary conditions and other dimensions of on-site inspection, and the production of fresh milk sampling and inspection, on-site inspection and sample inspection are qualified, the establishment of a list of qualified suppliers. The procurement of other raw materials such as packaging, sugar and other auxiliary materials of the enterprise shall be organized and purchased by the supply department according to the production plan, demand and market changes of the enterprise.
2. Production mode
Dairy beverage enterprises adopt the production mode of "sales and production". The shelf life of milk-containing beverages is long, and the production mode of "focusing on sales and production, supplemented by appropriate adjustment" is adopted. At the beginning of each year, the sales department prepares the annual sales plan, and the monthly sales plan is prepared every month, and the production planning department combines the sales plan prepared by the sales department, the inventory situation, the market sales situation, the promotion policy and the forecast of the future market sales trend and other factors to comprehensively judge its production plan, and issue it to the production department.
Outsourced processing mode. There are many product specifications and models of dairy beverage enterprises, and different products have different requirements for shelf life, taste requirements, and consumption styles. In order to meet the needs of product innovation and market competition, the company's demand for product filling methods and packaging forms is also constantly changing. Due to the insufficient production capacity of the company's standard brick production line and the lack of production capacity of some specifications and models, it is necessary to provide outsourcing processing services such as batching and filling through outsourcing suppliers according to the company's technical requirements and product production standards. The outsourcing supplier only provides production conditions, such as production sites, equipment and personnel, and processes finished products in accordance with the company's product formula and technical requirements, and finally delivers the finished products to the company for external sales.
3. Sales model
Dairy beverage enterprises adopt a sales model that combines distribution and direct sales. Under the distribution model, the company's products are sold directly to dealers through outright, and then sold by dealers to retail terminals, and finally directly sold to consumers by retail terminals;
3. Industry policy
1. Competent departments and regulatory systems
The competent authorities of the dairy beverage industry include the National Development and Reform Commission, the Food Safety Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Health Commission.
The National Development and Reform Commission is mainly responsible for formulating, supervising and inspecting the implementation of dairy beverage industry policies, researching and formulating the development plan of the dairy beverage industry, guiding the structural adjustment of the dairy beverage industry, government guidance, project approval and management of industrial support funds for the development and promotion of dairy beverage products.
As a high-level deliberative and coordinating body for food safety work under the State Council, the Food Safety Committee of the State Council is mainly responsible for analyzing the food safety situation, researching, deploying, coordinating and guiding food safety work, proposing major policy measures for food safety supervision, and supervising the implementation of food safety supervision responsibilities.
The main responsibilities of the China Food Industry Association include carrying out investigations, analysis and research in the food industry, and making suggestions to the national government departments on the planning, guidelines, industrial policies and regulations for the development of the food industry such as dairy beverages in the mainland; strengthening self-discipline in the dairy beverage industry, creating and maintaining a level playing field in the industry; Revise the relevant standards of the food industry such as dairy beverages, and promote the improvement of the quality level of food industry such as milk beverages. The main functions of China Beverage Industry Association are to implement relevant national policies, put forward the development plan of beverage industry such as dairy beverages, and provide industry opinions and suggestions on national laws, fiscal and taxation policies, import and export policies, and industrial guidance catalogs. Guide enterprises to compete in the market in an orderly manner and promote common development. China Dairy Industry Association is a self-regulated, non-profit, national industry organization. It mainly includes standardizing the behavior of the dairy beverage industry, safeguarding the interests of the dairy beverage industry and enterprises, studying the development and market trend of the dairy beverage industry, participating in the formulation of industry development strategic planning, putting forward policy and legislative suggestions to the government, and participating in the formulation, revision and implementation of national industry standards.
2. Relevant policies
With the increasing importance of health and nutrition, the market size of dairy beverages is expanding. With the rapid development of China's economy and the continuous improvement of consumer income levels, dairy beverages have become the choice of consumers to improve their quality of life. The continuous development of the dairy beverage industry is inseparable from the implementation of many policies and the improvement of the regulatory system. For example, in February 2022, the State Council issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the 14th Five-Year Plan for Promoting Agricultural and Rural Modernization", which proposes to strengthen the construction of milk source bases and optimize the structure of dairy products. Promote the development of the upstream milk source industry of the dairy beverage industry, and at the same time promote the development of the dairy beverage industry. In July 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Notice on Measures to Restore and Expand Consumption, proposing to expand the consumption of catering services to promote the growth of the consumer market of dairy beverages in mainland China, and to improve the rural e-commerce and express logistics distribution system, so that dairy beverage products can enter the rural market more conveniently and quickly, expand the sales scope of products, and further promote the expansion of the dairy beverage market.
Fourth, the development process
In the 80s of the 20th century, mainland dairy beverages began to take off, and gradually stood out in the food and beverage industry with rich taste, nutritional characteristics, and market positioning to meet diversified consumption scenarios. With the introduction of UHT technology and Tetra Pak Aseptic packaging technology, the shelf life of ambient milk has been extended to more than 6 months, which has greatly expanded the sales scope and broken the bottleneck of the dairy industry. At this stage, dairy enterprises such as Mengniu and Yili were born, and their products were mainly white milk. From 2005 to 2015, dairy products showed a brand upgrade and a mixed product. Flavored white milk, dairy beverages, and plant-based protein beverages have become popular under successful brand marketing, laying the foundation for China's dairy beverage industry. Since 2015, with the increase in consumer demand for freshness and nutrition, the market for low-temperature dairy beverages has begun to rise.
Fifth, industry barriers
1. Policy and regulatory barriers
In the dairy beverage industry, in 2017, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Detailed Rules for the Review of Beverage Production Licenses (2017 Edition)", and milk-containing beverages were included in the protein beverage products subject to food production license management.
2. Brand barriers
For consumers, one of the main considerations when choosing a dairy beverage is the brand of the product. In recent years, food safety issues have been paid more and more attention, and product brand influence has a more important position in market competition. The customer base of dairy beverages is mainly mass consumers, and consumers often pay attention to local well-known brands and national brands when choosing them. The brand value of the enterprise is obtained through the long-term honest and legal operation of the enterprise and the accumulation of a large number of loyal consumer groups, and it is difficult for new entrants to reach the corresponding level in the short term and survive in the fierce competition.
3. Sales channel barriers
Perfect sales channels are an important pillar for the development of dairy beverage enterprises. Nationwide, the milk beverage industry has a rich range of products, and the market competition is very fierce. On the one hand, striving for the strength of the dealer in the market, to meet the entry standards of well-known supermarkets has become an important way for such enterprises to achieve scale expansion and increase market share; on the other hand, the improvement of the marketing network depends on the brand awareness, quality trust and market awareness of the enterprise, and it is difficult for new entrants to meet the above conditions in the short term.
4. Technical barriers
The technical level of the dairy beverage industry is mainly reflected in quality management and new product development and production. Quality management technology relies on automated production equipment, high-quality technical personnel, skilled operators and perfect quality control and traceability system. The research and development of new products and the improvement of production technology require enterprises to fully understand product characteristics, market positioning and consumer groups in the long-term accumulation process, as well as continuous capital investment in the process of product development and equipment upgrading. In recent years, the types of milk-containing beverages have become increasingly rich, and enterprises need to continuously develop new products that meet the diverse needs of consumers on the basis of traditional production, and seize the current market consumption trend through rapid iteration of product innovation, so as to gain the first opportunity in market competition. Therefore, only enterprises with rich technical reserves can follow up and lead the development of the industry in a timely manner and avoid homogeneous product competition. Small businesses and new entrants face high technical barriers.
5. Milk source barriers
As the main raw material for the production of milk-containing beverages (fresh milk processing), a stable and high-quality milk supply is a prerequisite for such enterprises to maintain normal production and operation, and the company's ability to control the milk source also determines the reliability of product quality. Due to the long-term scattered layout and low scale of the mainland aquaculture industry, dairy farms often prefer to establish long-term and stable cooperative relations with downstream enterprises to ensure that they can obtain stable market demand. As a result, it is difficult for new entrants to the industry to obtain an adequate and stable supply of milk in the short term.
6. Barriers to capital and scale
The dairy beverage industry has very strict requirements for product quality, which makes new entrants need to have certain capital strength and human resource advantages. First of all, the filling production line represented by Tetra Pak is expensive, and the new entrants are bound to need a lot of capital investment in the introduction of equipment and plant construction, and the payback period is longer and the risk is greater; secondly, to achieve stable production and operation, enterprises not only need to have high quality and full supply of milk source channels, but also need to invest a lot of money to lay terminal sales channels and logistics distribution systems, so that they can form a complete industrial chain; finally, when the project is officially put into operation, enterprises also need to carry out brand promotion, The investment in market development and new product research and development has posed a severe challenge to the capital strength of the enterprise.
Sixth, the industrial chain
1. Analysis of the industry chain
The mainland dairy beverage market is developing rapidly, and the industrial chain is relatively complete. The upstream of the dairy beverage industry chain includes the necessary raw materials required for the production of milk sources, packaging materials and food additives. The midstream is the production and processing of dairy beverages. Downstream is the consumer terminal. The industrial chain of China's dairy beverage industry is shown in the following figure:
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