Aug 16, 2013
Translated by Zhu Na

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has completed work on a plan to encourage a major consolidation of China's infant formula sector and has already submitted it to a higher authority, according to a report in today's Securities Times quoting anonymous sources.

According to the paper, MIIT's plan is to help establish between 3 and 5 large enterprise groups each with annual infant formula sales revenue of more than 5 billion yuan by then end of 2018.

The plan also sets the goal of limiting the total number of companies producing infant formula to around fifty.

According to the Securities Times, a source revealed that the aim of the plan is to develop large, internationally-competitive enterprises in order to lift the quality of domestically produced infant formula.  

Currently, there are 127 companies that make infant formula in China with a combined annual output of around 600,000 tones.

Only three of these enterprises produce more than 30,000 tones of infant formula a year.
 
Links and Sources
Securities Times: 乳粉企业将掀兼并重组潮