China's camel milk industry seeks development in innovation

With the improvement of Chinese residents' living standards and health awareness, the pursuit of more nutritious and healthy functional foods has become an inevitability
.
As a dairy product with unique nutritional value and functional characteristics, camel milk has gradually been recognized by consumers, and the development prospects are becoming more and more inventive
.
As a niche milk, how can camel milk achieve industrial scale effect and brand synergy effect, and promote the high-quality development of the industry? "To develop the camel milk industry, it not only needs government support and industry associations to take the lead, but also requires the joint participation of the entire industry chain to make efforts in the large-scale and standardized production of camel breeding
.
" Liu Youmin, general manager of Yili Yilite Dairy Co.
, Ltd.
, a special milk production enterprise, said
.

Up-and-comers usher in new business opportunities

In recent years, camel milk has attracted attention for its rich nutrition, mellow taste and unique health elements
.

The development of camel milk in China has gone through three stages: the first stage is before 2015, most of the camel milk is limited to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia herders to eat themselves, occasionally individual enterprises make camel milk into yogurt or milk powder, but it is only sold in the region, not to the whole country
.
The second stage was in 2015, when the formula registration system was about to be implemented, the milk powder industry was facing restructuring, and some companies began to look for transformation products, and camel milk entered the eyes of these companies with its nutritional value and functional characteristics
.
In the second half of 2018, camel milk powder frequently appeared on major and secondary e-commerce platforms
.
At the end of 2019, the sales of camel milk powder reached a historical peak, the camel milk industry entered a period of rapid growth, and the number of camel breeding increased from more than 280,000 peaks before 2015 to more than 400,000 peaks
.
The third stage is at the beginning of 2020, when the new crown epidemic swept the country, and the development of the camel milk industry slowed down, and after that, although it still maintained an upward trend, the development speed slowed
down significantly.
At the end of 2020, the number of camel farmings continued to grow, reaching a peak
of more than 410,000.

Liu Youmin believes that at present, in the milk powder market, leading enterprises occupy the main market share, and it is difficult for small manufacturers and small brands to occupy a place
.
Although goat milk powder has been recognized by most consumers after more than 10 years of rapid development, its growth has been weak in the past two years
.
At this time, camel milk just met the needs of the market and ushered in new business opportunities
.

A variety of factors restrict the development of the industry

In recent years, camel milk has rapidly attracted many consumers, and major dairy companies have also entered the market to seize the market share
of camel milk.

Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and other institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutions continue to study camel milk, and the media has repeatedly carried out popular science reports on camel milk, which has boosted the development of the camel milk industry, but there are still some problems
in the current camel milk market.

Industry insiders pointed out that the factors restricting the development of the camel milk industry are, first of all, small scale, difficult collection, and small milk production
.
Although there are more than 2 million peaks of Bactrian camels in the world, there are only more than 400,000 peaks in China, and they are distributed in desert grassland areas
such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
Camel breeding is basically nomadic herders, and the breeding area is scattered, and the small scale has become a key factor
limiting the development of the camel milk industry.
In addition, camels do not cooperate with milking work like cows, female camels only smell the smell of young camels to secrete milk, and each milking time is very short, 2-3 times a day, a camel daily milk production of about 2.
5-3.
5 kg
.
Due to the small number, difficulty in collection, and small milk production, large-scale camel breeding will take time
.

Secondly, there is a lack of national standards, and the market is disorderly and competitive
.
The camel milk industry has achieved rapid development in 2019, and milk powder processing enterprises in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places have swarmed and joined the camel milk powder industry, making the camel breeding industry develop rapidly, and also driving local herdsmen to increase income and become rich, to some extent saving many small milk powder enterprises on the verge of bankruptcy, but at the same time, there have been a lot of chaos, and the phenomenon of small, scattered, chaotic and poor production enterprises has been exposed
.
Although the local government has issued local standards, some enterprises still play on the sidelines, and disorderly competition has put formal enterprises under greater pressure
.

The third is that the breeding technology is limited and the core competitiveness of the brand is not enough
.
At present, China's camel breeding is in a critical period of industrial transformation and upgrading, the level of camel breeding, production and processing in various regions is uneven, the production efficiency of camel breeding is still not ideal, consumers' cognition is limited, and the reliable industry brand advantage has not yet been established
.
Therefore, how to rely on science and technology to improve the scientific and technological content of camel milk products, improve the core competitiveness of camel milk, build a well-known brand in the camel milk industry, and establish an industry quality model will become the focus of attention and the direction
of efforts in the next step of the whole industry chain of camel milk.

National standards need to be introduced urgently

"It is necessary to promote the introduction
of national standards for camel milk as soon as possible.
" Liu Youmin said that although Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have local standards, there is still a certain gap
between the authority and influence of local standards and national standards.
"The introduction of the national standard not only unifies the production and quality standards of camel milk powder, but also gives the name of camel milk to the right name, which is of great significance
to promote the development of the industry.
" Liu Youmin believes that before the state has introduced the national standard, all enterprises in the camel milk industry chain must strengthen enterprise self-discipline, strictly implement local standards, reduce costs from improving enterprise management and internal control, and benefit the people, rather than vicious competition from reducing quality, damaging the reputation of the industry and hindering the healthy development of
the industry.

At the same time, it is necessary to promote the implementation of various breeding policies and promote the high-quality development of
the camel industry.
Although the camel milk industry has developed rapidly in recent years, the number of breeding is still relatively small, and it is obviously unable to keep up with the speed of market development, so it is necessary for all sectors of society to jointly promote the implementation of camel breeding policies, and give policy preferences in subsidies and loans such as standardized camel breeding and mechanized milking; Increase special scientific research investment in the protection of seed resources, variety improvement, production performance improvement, product research and development of camels, etc.
, and consolidate the foundation
.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the nutritional and functional research of camel milk and improve the scientific and technological content of
camel milk products.
Liu Youmin believes that for a long time, the nutritional value and functional characteristics of camel milk have been recognized a lot at the consumer level, but there are still some functions that lack the support of clinical research results of authoritative institutions, and some companies arbitrarily exaggerate the efficacy or therapeutic effect of camel milk, resulting in some consumers doubting the actual nutritional value of camel milk, making the reputation of camel milk decline.

"It is hoped that under the leadership of the industry association, the whole industry chain of camel milk enterprises can unite and cooperate with authoritative research institutions to strengthen the basic research of camel milk and bring positive promotion to the development of
the industry.
"

Liu Youmin said that at present, there are many kinds of camel milk products, but most of them are not innovative, no differentiation, homogenization is serious, the technical content is small, enterprises invest very little energy in product research and development, and product competition is mainly reflected in the primary level
of price.
"If enterprises want to open the gap, they must use differentiated products to improve their core competitiveness
.
Only with excellent product quality will enterprises develop faster and go further
.
This requires enterprises to increase investment in scientific research and innovation, drive development with innovation, strengthen innovation collaboration in the whole industry chain, accelerate technological innovation and application, and continuously upgrade product quality and services to meet the diversified health needs
of consumers.
Only in this way will the camel milk industry develop faster and better
.
”

(Wang Jingchen)

China Food News(Version 07, December 20, 2022)

(Responsible editor: Yang Xiaojing)