By Cheng Yu & Chen Bing, Research Team on “Strategic Agricultural Adjustments in the Context of High-level Opening-up”, Research Department of Rural Economy, DRC

Research Report, No.239, 2020 (Total 5983) 2020-10-9

Abstract: The domestic dairy industry has intensified its opening-up drive over the years since China’s accession to the WTO. The opening-up of the dairy product market has remained at a high level in line with multilateral and bilateral agreements. In the initial period after China’s entry into the WTO, the dairy product imports were mainly targeted at the increment demand, without causing much impact to domestic production. But due to its disadvantage in resource endowments, China’s raw milk production costs have highly surpassed that of major exporters in the world. Due to the increased price difference between home-made and foreign-made raw milk, the imports of milk products are on a rapid rise. As China’s domestic increment demand is becoming gradually diminished, the country’s dairy industry will face much higher pressure and making strategic adjustments have become inevitable. It is necessary for us to give priority to quality, profits and competitiveness of China’s dairy industry, bring into full play domestic support and the requirements for market access within the framework of WTO rules, sharpen the competitive edge of pasteurized milk in domestic market, make arrangements in advance for the sale of cheese and whey in the market, diversify the channels for dairy imports, and make the dairy industry’s investments overseas more efficient in a properly organized manner.

Keywords: dairy industry, high-level opening-up, self-sufficiency, countermeasures