China's dairy industry will depend on high imports in 2022 - Germany is part of it China's milk production is expected to increase to 38.5 million tons of cow's milk in 2022 due to a 3.2% increase in the number of cows (for comparison BR.-D. 33 million tons). This contrasts with a similar increase in consumption of almost 41 million t. Of the 1.4 million tonnes of liquid milk imports in the form of UHT milk, a third comes from Germany. The most important product is whole milk powder (VMP) , which has a long shelf life and is easy to transport. Milk production in China takes place for the most part in the north, far away from consumers, on marginal yield locations. China's own production of VMP is around 1 million t, and almost half of the consumption of around 1.9 million t is covered by imports, most of which come from New Zealand. Uruquay has become the 2nd largest supplier, displacing Australia. The EU delivered around 22,500 t in 2021. China needs almost 430,000 t of skimmed milk powder (SMP) annually almost exclusively for food purposes. The degree of self-sufficiency is just over 5%.A 19% increase in prices caused imports to fall. The main suppliers of SMP imports are New Zealand, Australia and the USA with a share of 60%. EU exports to China are falling from 125,000 t last year to 120,000 t this year. Chinese cheese consumption is estimated at almost 200,000 t (0.14 kg/capita). Of this, 10% is produced in-house; the rest is imported. High milk prices and a lack of opportunities to recycle the by-products produced make domestic cheese production unattractive. Half of the cheese deliveries come from New Zealand. Around 38,000 t came from the EU in 2021, mainly from Denmark, Ireland and Italy. The statistically recorded butter consumption is given as 162,000 t (0.12 kg/head). Of this, 12,000 t are produced in-house. Butter is primarily used in the baking industry. New Zealand supplies around 80% of Chinese imports. EU exports to China are expected to fall from 16,300 t in the previous year to 14,500 t in 2022. The China import business makes up around 16% for SMP, around 8% for VMP, and around 5% for butter.9% and cheese 4.5% of EU exports . More than 70% of baby food imports come from the EU countries Holland, France, Ireland, Germany and Denmark. Overall, China is the EU-27's largest exporter of dairy products.
