The longer the shelf life, the lower the nutritional value

This year, imported milk is cheaper than domestically produced milk, and it is even cheaper. At the end of last year, there were also media targets for importing milk – “Why is imported milk so expensive?” At the time, imported milk was also classified as luxury food.

In the end, how much milk is cheaper? Take Terumu as an example. In “My Buying Network”, the price per liter of Ternutsu pure milk is a little over 18 yuan, and the price of milk imported from Germany that is also pure milk is SUNSIDE brand milk price per litre. For 19.75 yuan, Germany imported Ou Debao full-fat pure milk but only sold 9.9 yuan / liter. A closer look at the prices of imported milk on various websites will reveal that most imported milk brands are still expensive, even if prices are drastically reduced. There are only a few brands that are truly comparable to domestic liquid milk prices, and many of them are German brands and Australian brands. New brands, like "Oudeborg," "Alborg," "Rhine," etc.

In less than a year, imported milk that has crossed the ocean has begun to drastically cut prices and fight with the domestic dairy industry. What advantages does foreign milk have, and why did the foreign milk sold from afar cost so cheaply?

Domestic milk usher in the "disaster"?

Foreign milk is raging. Under this tide, is domestic milk carrying negative news facing a “disaster”?

Customs statistics show that the amount of liquid imported milk has shown a linear increase in the last three years. The figure is “In 2010, only imported 15,900 tons, 40,500 tons in 2011, and 93,800 tons in 2012. It has reached 96,000 tons, and the China Dairy Federation expects the annual import volume to exceed 200,000 tons.

While experiencing the trend of imported milk, it is also possible to see that the brands and origins of imported milk are unprecedented. The imported milk currently sold on the market covers more than 30 countries in the three major producing areas of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the EU. In addition to the traditional origins of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany, there are even countries such as Peru in the market. Milk is on sale.

Everything is like rain, but it is not terrible to the insiders of the industry. This view holds that imported liquid milk only accounts for a very small proportion of domestic sales. It grows quickly but does not produce too much for domestic milk. Threatened. According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2012, dairy enterprises above designated size produced 2.146.57 million tons of liquid milk, of which imports accounted for less than 0.5%.

“The import of liquid milk is very unstable. It is related to many factors such as the high season of milk production in the southern hemisphere countries and the transportation cost constraints. Internationally, the sales of dairy products are still the most profitable in terms of nearest-distance sales.” Said that the future import of liquid milk in the domestic liquid milk market will be long-term production of small, small quantities of supplementary roles.

As for the importation of many pure milk products that are specifically produced for the Chinese mainland, people in the industry believe that there is no conclusive evidence to support this. From the actual situation, most brands of dairy products companies are not only exporting liquid milk to the mainland, but also Export to other countries.

However, it has been reported earlier that there is no shortage of cases of imported milk sold domestically by domestic e-commerce companies to OEM production in foreign milk sources.

Under heavy tariffs, why is it cheaper than domestic milk? According to a large importer of liquid milk, the price composition of imported milk is very complicated. It is clear that there is a 17% value-added tax and a 15% tariff if it is combined with shipping fees and stores. Channel costs, the cost of imported milk from the country of origin to the final sales terminal in mainland China is not low, so why is it that foreign milk from afar is actually cheaper than domestic milk?

Contact with many importers shows that the imported milk currently sold is in line with the standard in terms of quarantine inspection, shelf life, and milk source requirements. Even if the price is low, it is by no means a counterfeit product in milk.

“The biggest mystery is also not the least secret, that is, the price of liquid milk in foreign countries is extremely cheap.” An import dealer cited the example of German shepherd milk, and it was alleged that one litre of shepherd milk was found in major supermarket chains in Germany. The price is only 0.65 euros (approximately 5 yuan more), while in China it can be as high as 20 or 30 yuan.

It is understood that the low price of imported milk is related to the production cost determined by the feeding methods of foreign dairy cows. The use of grazing and mechanized milking in foreign countries is relatively mature compared to the domestic milk manufacturing industry. The level of milk production is high and labor costs are low. As a result, the overall cost of producing milk abroad is low.

When it comes to the cost of milk in foreign countries, there are insiders who point out that countries such as Germany are subsidized by the dairy industry and have a limited price policy on milk in Germany. The price of 1 litre of ordinary milk in Germany is only about 5 yuan. about.

However, one of the reasons why most distributors rumors here is that some dealers are selling imported milk at an ultra-low price or even at a loss, and their real purpose is naturally to open up and occupy the domestic market with price advantages.

Behind the popularity of domestic milk and local milk, imported milk is the result of consumer fears of domestic milk. However, imported milk is not necessarily better than domestic milk in any respect.

According to the views of most dairy professionals, there is not much difference between imported milk and domestic milk in terms of nutritional value and product quality safety factor. Compared with domestically-made, these liquid state-temperature milks abroad have basically no nutrition, quality, and safety. How much difference, are the same processing technology, the same heat sterilization temperature, the same aseptic packaging, so basically no difference in product quality and nutritional value, but slightly different in taste and flavor.

But even so, those who support imported milk still have their reasons. When it comes to these reasons, the most important thing is that there are indeed foreign dairy industry standards that are higher than the domestic standards. Even if it is OEM production in Europe, the reference standard must be the EU standard, and others think that imported milk is more domestic than domestic. Milk should be richer and have a much better taste.

However, relevant experts believe that from the point of view of nutritional value, “yang milk” may not be better than domestic milk, for example, the shelf life of imported milk is longer than that of domestic milk, and the longer the shelf life of milk, the lower the nutritional value.