(Yicai Global) March 19 -- China has adjusted the nutrient levels in domestically produced powdered milk formulas, including restricting sucrose and fructose additions, to give better targeted nutrition to infants and babies of different ages.

The new standards, which will be formally rolled out in February 2023, set the minimum and maximum nutrient contents of products in a market worth CNY180 billion (USD27.7 billion), the National Health Commission said yesterday. There are requirements for lactose content and restrictions on sucrose and fructose additions, among other changes.

"In recent years, international organizations and countries including the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand have successively revised infant and baby formula food standards,” the NHC said. We have in turn amended national standards to better meet the nutritional and health needs of Chinese infants and babies, it added.

Sales of infant formula have been dropping since 2019 due to the declining birthrate, and might have a compound annual growth rate of minus 4.1 percent between 2020 and 2025, according to US market research firm Frost & Sullivan. Market participants have also fallen by two thirds to 1,000 entities since 2017 when China introduced new regulations, raising the entry barrier to the industry.

Editor: Kim Taylor