More and more parents in China tend to choose special foods that are more in line with the growth and development of infants and young children. This move has promoted the rapid development of China's infant complementary food market.
Industry policies are gradually improved
Infant supplementary food is served by infants and young children, so consumer groups are very sensitive and are also a key area of food safety. The government and all sectors of society attach great importance to industry supervision.
In this context, the state has issued policies to urge the improvement of industry quality from many aspects, such as raising the threshold of industry entry, refining the addition of nutrients, and restricting the limits of individual elements.
It is understood that among the food production implementation standards that China has issued, the main standards related to supplementary foods for infants and young children are "Grain Supplementary Foods for Infants and Young Children GB 10769-2010", "Canned Supplementary Foods for Infants and Young Children GB 10770-2010", and "Complementary Foods" Nutritional Supplements GB 22570-2014", "Detailed Rules for Examination of Production Licensing of Supplementary Foods for Infants and Young Children", "Additional Nutrition Guidelines for Supplementary Foods for Infants and Young Children", "Administrative Measures for the Filing of Formula Foods for Infants and Young Children", "Regarding the Release of Cadmium in Cereal Supplementary Foods Announcement of Temporary Limit Values, etc.
In the "Key Work Arrangements for Food Safety in 2019" issued in June 2019, it is clearly required that the self-inspection rate of infant formula milk powder and supplementary food manufacturers should reach 100%; in July 2020, the regulatory authority issued the "Food Safety National Safety Standard Cereal Supplementary Foods for Infants and Young Children (Draft for Solicitation of Comments).
With the leap-forward increase in the barriers of the infant complementary food industry, many miscellaneous and irregular companies have been filtered out, and the barriers to entry into the industry have been raised. At the same time, the implementation of policies will force some companies and brands to withdraw from the market. Only truly powerful companies can Can withstand the rigorous test of the new food supplement policy.
Food supplement industry needs to pay attention to quality
The new generation of parents have higher and higher requirements for the quality of complementary food products for infants and young children. They also pay more attention to the refined nurturing of infants and young children, and naturally they will pay attention to the quality and nutrition of complementary food products for infants and young children.
At present, in the complementary food market, various products are mixed and the products lack technical content. Most Chinese companies are struggling to survive. Only a few companies have established a good image of infant complementary food brands through differentiation and branding, and have gained a higher market. Share.
This also means that if a baby food maker brand wants to seek new development, it must improve product quality and continue to introduce new innovations to break through the bottleneck of brand development. The quality upgrade means that companies need to make better guarantees in terms of food ingredients, nutrients, quality, etc. These are also the points that consumers are more concerned about.
Only by accomplishing this, meeting the ever-changing diverse needs of consumers, continuously strengthening innovation and R&D, and improving quality, can the brand become popular and gain a place in the baby food supplement market.
In addition, whether it is regulatory authorities or consumers, the requirements for complementary food products will only become more and more stringent, resulting in more and more high-quality products.
Development status of complementary snacks
After years of development, China's infant food supplement industry has ushered in a period of rapid development. According to public information, the market consumption growth rate in the past ten years has remained at about 20%. The market size in 2018 is close to 30 billion yuan. It is estimated that the market size of China's infant complementary food industry will reach 43.623 billion yuan by 2024.
In a good situation, complementary foods for infants and young children have become a blue ocean for food manufacturers to compete for. At the same time, with the deepening of competition in the complementary food industry, many brands have begun to upgrade on the original basis to improve their competitiveness.
Although the number of consumers is huge, the current market penetration rate is still relatively low. The current market penetration rate of infant complementary food in China is only about 25%, which is far from the 80% penetration rate in European and American countries.
At present, the types of complementary food products for infants and young children on the market are relatively complete, which can basically meet the general needs of mother and infant families, but there is still room for improvement in meeting diversified and innovative needs. At the same time, in the face of more diversified needs of consumers, there is no match in production and supply. There is a huge gap in market development, and there is still room for development in the supplementary food segment.
In addition, industry insiders stated that consumers’ current dissatisfaction with infant products on the market is mainly due to the lack of clear head brands in the infant complementary food industry, and the lack of awareness and premium capabilities of head brands. With the improvement of production standards, infants The baby food supplement industry will eliminate the fittest in the second half, and further eliminate companies whose product quality cannot be guaranteed.
In general, with the continuous improvement of China's infant complementary food regulations, the complementary food industry has laws to follow, and China's infant complementary food industry is also developing in an orderly manner.