Baby formula sector revamp soon

China on Friday unveiled the blueprint for consolidation of its fragmented infant formula industry and indicated that the sector would have 10 manufacturers with annual sales revenue of more than 2 billion yuan ($160 million) by 2015.

The sectoral revamp would be undertaken in two phases, said Gao Fu, an inspector in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the plan by 2015, the top 10 domestic baby formula manufacturers will account for 65 percent of the market share, up from the current 45 percent. By 2018, there will be three to five manufacturers with more than 5 billion yuan in annual sales revenue. The market share of the top 10 companies will grow to 80 percent in the same period.

Currently, six of the 128 baby formula manufacturers in China have annual revenue of more than 2 billion yuan.