The global furor over the recent melamine contamination scandal in China appears to have driven consumers in that country increasingly toward premium and international brands, according to research group TNS Worldpanel.
The contamination scandal was related to the presence of the industrial chemical melamine in milk products, linked to the hospitalization of thousands of Chinese children this year.
Melamine is a chemical that can make it appear there is more protein in a product, and has been linked to causing kidney stones and other health problems.
Larger players set to recover
TNS said that by surveying 1,600 Chinese consumers, it found many buyers were more confident that larger players like Arla Mengniu and Yili, which were both implicated in the scandal, would recover from the incident than their smaller counterparts.
At the peak of the scandal, the report suggests that over the space of one week, consumer dairy sales plummeted by 54 per cent compared to the same period the previous year. However, taking into account the fours weeks ending 3 October, purchases fell only by 18 per cent, according to TNS.
Belying these falls, some multinational dairy producers were found to be on the receiving end of an unexpected sales surge, which TNS says boosted their marketing share in China’s dairy market. The country is widely seen as an important strategic area for expansion.
The share improvements occurred even with a hike in dairy prices and infant milk by about 26 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.
Source: FoodProductionDaily.com