China: Dairy and Products Semi-annual
China is the world's fourth largest dairy milk producer and consumer, and also a major importer of milk. To reflect strong fluid milk import growth, Post revised 2015 imports upward to 460,000 tons and further increased the 2016 forecast to 650,000 tons. Low international milk prices and consumers preference for imported milk helped drive import growth. Despite increasing fluid milk imports, many U.S. dairy plants remain on the sidelines as a result of delays in gaining export approvals under China’s newly implemented registration system