Huge growth forecast in dairy imports

China's dairy imports are expected to soar in the coming decade, as a result of growing domestic demand and a price gap between domestic and foreign products, a government report said on Friday.

The country's dairy imports, including raw milk, cheese and milk powder, are expected to rise to 15.88 metric tons in 2020, up by 43.1 percent from last year, according to China Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025.

The report, issued by the Market Early Warning Expert Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture,?forecasts a 69.4 percent rise in dairy imports to 18.8 million tons by 2025.?

China's dairy consumption has experienced a slowdown in growth in the past five years mainly due to sluggish consumer confidence in the quality of produce, the report said.

The dairy industry was hit particularly hard after a 2008 scandal in which a number of farmers and manufacturers were found to have added melamine, a toxic chemical, to raw milk. The incident affected at least 300,000 babies and six died from kidney failure.

Many consumers have since turned to imported baby formula in the hope of purchasing products of a higher quality.

The report forecast that milk powder will dominate dairy imports, because the second-baby policy is expected to bring about a boom in child births.

"It is expected that milk powder imports will recover in 2016 after the slump in 2015," the report said.

It estimates that milk powder imports will reach 800,000 tons in 2016 and increase to 1.2 million tons by 2025.