电车之后 中国乳业也“换道超车”了

This article explains how China's milk protein industry is following the same "change lanes to overtake" path that brought success to China's new energy vehicle sector, breaking a long-standing foreign technology chokehold on the sector. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. China's milk protein industry was long heavily dependent on imports, with over 90% of whey protein sourced from overseas. Unlike Europe, China does not have a mature cheese industry, so catching up via the traditional route would have been prohibitively expensive. Compound this with growing domestic demand and tightening supply driven by the boom in semaglutide-based weight loss drugs, imported whey protein costs have more than doubled, leaving the sector exposed to major supply chain risks.

2. Feihe, a leading Chinese dairy company, has developed an alternative approach: it extracts milk protein directly from fresh milk via its proprietary fresh-extraction technology, and has already achieved large-scale commercial production. Core indicators of its domestically produced raw material, including freshness and bioactivity, outperform imported products across the board, with freshness measured at up to 35 times higher than that of imported whey protein.

3. Feihe has now launched Zhichun, its open-market raw material brand, making high-quality domestic milk protein available to the entire industry. This will eventually allow everyday consumers to access fresher, more affordable protein-based products.

This article outlines shifting consumer trends, supply-side changes and R&D directions for dairy and nutritional food brands, with key insights below:

1. Shifting consumer trends: Protein nutrition is no longer a niche demand limited to fitness enthusiasts, and has become a daily necessity for the general population. China's protein powder market is projected to exceed 38.7 billion yuan by 2026, with year-on-year growth of nearly 18%. Consumers are increasingly demanding higher freshness and bioactivity from protein raw materials, creating enormous room for further market growth.

2. New supply-side opportunities: With over 90% of raw materials previously imported, the industry long suffered from unstable supply chains, volatile costs and significant bioactivity loss. Feihe's breakthrough in domestic milk protein production, which is now available for open supply, allows brands to switch supply chains to reduce the risk of foreign chokeholds, while building differentiated marketing around fresh, active domestic raw materials.

3. New directions for product R&D: Feihen supports custom development of milk protein raw materials with different compositions and functions. Brands can leverage this capability to develop differentiated products tailored to consumers of different age groups and with diverse needs, aligning with the broader trend of consumption upgrading.

This article outlines industry changes, opportunity paths and risk warnings for downstream sellers of milk protein-related products, with key insights below:

1. Market opportunities: Domestic demand for milk protein is currently booming, and the era of mass protein consumption has arrived. The legacy imported supply chain suffers from high costs, instability and low product bioactivity, while high-quality domestic alternative raw materials are now fully commercially mature. Sellers can switch to domestic supply chains to cut operating costs, while building a differentiated selling point around "fresh, active domestic protein" to attract cost-conscious and pro-local-consumer shoppers.

2. Risk warning: Sellers that remain heavily dependent on imported raw materials without adjusting their supply chain strategy in advance face growing risks of supply disruption from geopolitical shifts and logistics volatility, as well as persistent upward cost pressure. They are advised to connect with domestic alternative suppliers as soon as possible.

3. Collaboration opportunities: Feihe's open supply brand Zhichun supports on-demand customization, and already counts leading brands including Nestlé, Mengniu and Mixue Ice City as clients. All types of sellers can access a stable supply of high-quality raw materials via collaboration with Zhichun.

This article provides reference for industry direction, production layout and digital transformation for dairy processing factories, with key takeaways below:

1. Business opportunities: Domestic substitution of milk protein is now an industry-wide imperative, with market demand growing strongly. The traditional path of extracting whey as a byproduct of cheese production does not fit China's industrial base and is not viable. The new path of extracting milk protein directly from fresh milk, by contrast, aligns with China's industrial reality of abundant fresh milk supply from large-scale domestic pastures, offers enormous growth potential and is well-suited for production layout by domestic factories.

2. Reference for production technology: Feihe has spent 15 years proving the commercial viability of this new route. It has mastered core proprietary technologies including fresh extraction via membrane separation and directional enzymolysis, and achieved domestic control over core production equipment, with localization of high-purity alpha-lactalbumin production lines exceeding 80%, eliminating the risk of a new foreign technology chokehold. Domestic factories can reference this technical route to build out production capacity.

3. Insights for digital transformation: Feihe has built automated, intelligent milk protein production lines that enable large-scale production of high-end active milk protein. This proves that advancing digital and intelligent production can effectively guarantee consistent product quality and improve production efficiency, making it a key direction for upgrading for dairy processing factories.

This article outlines industry trends, client pain points and new opportunity directions for dairy industry service providers, with key insights below:

1. Industry trends: The global milk protein industry landscape is shifting. China's milk protein industry has achieved technological breakthroughs, transitioning from import dependence to domestic self-sufficiency. China is on track to become a core global supplier of milk protein raw materials. Industry quality standards have also shifted: rather than focusing only on protein content, they now prioritize raw material bioactivity and freshness, creating large room for industrial upgrading.

2. Core client pain points: Downstream brands and processors have long faced pain points including unstable imported raw material supply chains, continuously rising costs, insufficient freshness and bioactivity, and a lack of customized raw material options. Mature domestic solutions for all these pain points now exist.

3. New business opportunities: Service providers can build upstream-downstream matching and supply connection services centered on the domestic fresh-extracted milk protein industry. They can also develop supporting testing and certification services aligned with the new "fresh active quality management standard", to capture new growth opportunities brought by industry upgrading.

This article outlines industry demand and operational guidance for food raw material and nutritional product platforms, with key insights below:

1. Merchants and category layout requirements: Domestic substitution of milk protein is a clear, major industry trend, and downstream brands and processors are seeing rapidly growing demand for high-quality domestic milk protein raw materials. Platforms can launch dedicated zones for domestic milk protein raw materials to attract domestic raw material suppliers and match current market demand.

2. Sourcing and招商 reference: Feihe's raw material brand Zhichun already has full production capacity, a complete product portfolio, and endorsement from existing partnerships with leading industry brands. Its product quality outperforms imports, while offering more competitive pricing. Platforms can prioritize high-quality domestic raw material brands like Zhichun for招商 to improve their own industry competitiveness.

3. Risk mitigation: Traditional imported milk raw material supply chains are heavily exposed to geopolitical shifts and international logistics volatility, creating high uncertainty. Increasing the proportion of domestic raw material suppliers on a platform can effectively mitigate industry risks from supply chain volatility, and better protect the interests of on-platform merchants and end consumers.

This article documents the latest "change lanes to overtake" developments in China's milk protein industry, and provides a new research case for industry analysts, with key insights below:

1. New industry developments: China's milk protein industry has replicated the "change lanes to overtake" strategy seen in other sectors such as new energy vehicles. Rather than competing on the traditional track developed by European players that extracts whey as a cheese byproduct, it has created an entirely new technological route that extracts milk protein directly from fresh milk. This has broken foreign patent and industrial barriers, enabling a transition from following the pack to taking the global lead, and serves as a new case of latecomer industry breakout.

2. Business model innovation: As a traditional finished dairy product company, Feihe has expanded upstream into core raw material production, achieving 100% in-house R&D and production for 16 core milk protein raw materials. It has built a complete closed loop spanning basic research, large-scale production, and open supply to the broader industry, while also offering on-demand customized raw materials. This creates a new growth model for dairy enterprises.

3. Research insights: For latecomer industries facing foreign chokeholds, it is unnecessary to keep competing on traditional tracks defined by overseas players. By leveraging technological innovation to open a new track aligned with a country's own industrial base and reconstruct industry quality standards, players can achieve "change lanes to overtake". This provides an important reference case for research on industrial upgrading in other sectors.