Recently, the 2025 World Dairy Summit was held in Santiago, Chile. After being recommended by the China Dairy Industry Association, Yu Shuo, the Vice President of Business of Riello Company in China, was invited to deliver a speech titled "The Extraordinary Transformation of China's Dairy Industry" during the conference. He comprehensively reviewed the successful transformation and significant progress achieved by China's dairy industry over the past few decades through resilient growth, pursuit of innovation, and implementation of sustainable development, and looked forward to the long-term development in the future.

|  01 Resilient Growth of China's Dairy Industry

In fact, dairy products are not part of traditional Chinese cuisine. Before the 1980s, the per capita consumption was less than 2 liters per year. Subsequently, thanks to rapid economic growth and urbanization, China's dairy industry experienced two rounds of strong growth. However, economic growth alone cannot establish consumption habits. Consumer education is the core driving force. Given this, dairy brands launched large-scale publicity campaigns to promote the health benefits of dairy products. At the national level, the "Student Milk Program" approved and implemented by the central government was launched in 2000, covering 31.34 million students in 100,000 schools across the country in 2024, becoming one of the most influential projects in the industry. It not only contributed to the health of students but also cultivated a group of loyal dairy product consumers.

|  02 Breakthrough Innovation in China's Dairy Industry

At the production end, China's dairy industry achieved structural modernization upgrades and breakthroughs in quality, gradually approaching the quality level of the world's leading standards.

Firstly, there was a leap in raw milk quality: the milk cow production efficiency has significantly increased. By 2024, the per-head yield of large-scale modernized pastures has reached 10.9 tons, comparable to the level of the United States. This is not only an increase in production but also a significant leap in raw milk quality, with significant improvements in key indicators such as protein content, somatic cell count, and total bacterial count.

Secondly, there was a transformation in the industrial structure of raw milk: the industry is moving towards large-scale and efficient development. Large-scale pastures have achieved intelligent feeding management and automated milking through modern industrial technologies, creating an integrated and highly efficient modern dairy farming system.

Thirdly, there was a breakthrough in world-class intelligent manufacturing: globally leading dairy processing bases were built. Whether it is Yili Modern Smart Healthy Valley with a daily processing capacity of 6,500 tons of liquid milk, or Mengniu's Ningxia Factory, which was rated as the first "Lighthouse Factory" in the Chinese dairy industry by the World Economic Forum (WEF), both have set new benchmarks for global intelligent dairy production. These two "super factories" are equipped with Riello's most advanced E-Beam ultra-high-speed filling lines, combining efficiency and sustainability advantages.

|  03 China's Dairy Industry's Firm Commitment to Sustainable Development

In addition to continuously innovating technologies, China's dairy industry is also committed to green and low-carbon transformation, responding to the country's "carbon neutrality" goals with concrete actions. The industry has carried out multi-dimensional sustainable development strategic actions, including building sustainable pastures, obtaining "Green Factory" certification, improving resource recycling, and promoting green consumption, and has worked collaboratively to achieve common goals.

Over the course of several decades, the Chinese dairy industry has undergone an extraordinary transformation and achieved a leapfrog development, achieving remarkable results. On the other hand, we also recognize that although per capita dairy product consumption in China has significantly increased, it is still far below the levels of developed countries in Europe and America. With the in-depth implementation of the National "Healthy China 2030" Plan Outline, there is still a huge growth potential for the demand for high-quality protein, which also contains rich development opportunities.

Today, China's dairy industry has grown into a global leader in terms of quality, scale, and sustainability. In the future, it will play an even more important role in promoting and leading the development of the world dairy industry.