Zhang Jing, Waldron Scott, Dong Xiaoxia
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
Foods. 2022 Sep 3;11(17):2689. doi: 10.3390/foods11172689.
China is the largest global consumer of infant milk formula (IMF). Chinese consumer preferences towards IMF have evolved over time but have also been rocked in recent years by COVID-19 with major implications for the IMF industry, globally and within China. This study is the first to document parents' preferences toward IMF since the outbreak. We used novel methods to do so, through an online choice experiment of 804 participants that included risk perceptions and socio-demographic variables. Our study finds that Chinese parents continue to prioritize quality and safety attributes of IMF represented by functional ingredients, organic labelling and traceability information. Notably, it also finds greatly increased confidence in Chinese domestically produced IMF and an underlying preference away from expensive products. This implies that the era of 'go for foreign' and 'go for the most expensive' in IMF purchasing may be coming to an end. The shift in sentiment is driven by the longer-term revitalization of the Chinese dairy industry, accelerated by COVID-19. Understanding these trends will be of major benefit to both Chinese producers and non-Chinese exporters of IMF.
中国是全球最大的婴幼儿配方奶粉（IMF）消费国。中国消费者对婴幼儿配方奶粉的偏好随时间推移而演变，但近年来也受到新冠疫情的冲击，这对全球及中国国内的婴幼儿配方奶粉行业产生了重大影响。本研究是自疫情爆发以来首次记录父母对婴幼儿配方奶粉偏好的研究。我们采用了新颖的方法，通过对804名参与者进行在线选择实验，其中包括风险认知和社会人口统计学变量。我们的研究发现，中国父母继续将功能性成分、有机标签和可追溯性信息所代表的婴幼儿配方奶粉的质量和安全属性放在首位。值得注意的是，研究还发现，中国父母对国产婴幼儿配方奶粉的信心大幅增强，并且对昂贵产品存在潜在偏好。这意味着婴幼儿配方奶粉购买中“追求国外品牌”和“追求最贵产品”的时代可能即将结束。这种情绪的转变是由中国乳业的长期振兴推动的，新冠疫情加速了这一进程。了解这些趋势将对中国婴幼儿配方奶粉生产商和非中国出口商都大有裨益。
