Why a sudden interest in yogurt products?
Today there is a high demand for de dairy products in China and in particular in yogurt. And if the sales of yogurt keep increasing, the milk business will fall behind and will not be able to catch up. This means the yogurt sales will take over the milk purchases for the very first time in history.
“Now, the growth rate of ordinary temperature milk is slow,” Song said. “But low-temperature and ordinary temperature yogurts are proving very popular.”
‘’The only explanation we can provide is that in China the middle-class is increasing and they are willing to spend more money, particularly on high-end, nutritional dairy items,” said Song Liang, a senior independent industry analyst.
With this high demand for yogurt products, there are dairy companies who see this as the chance of a lifetime. Of course, large dairy companies from foreign countries as Japan’s Meiji and France’s Yoplait have already seen this change in the Chinese consumer habits and have drawn up a strategic plan to sell their yogurt good in China.
Besides big dairy brands responding to the yogurt demand, small Chinese labels, New Hope Group, and China Shengmu Organic Milk Ltd are fighting to conquer the highly competitive market. Hoping that they can sell as many if not even more varieties of yogurt to Chinese consumers.
In Europe, there is a wide range of different kinds of flavors. For example, coconut flavor or strawberry flavor with muesli incorporated. And now the Chinese consumers look for more sophisticated dairy products, as a result, a wider range of yogurts are hitting the shelves. The yogurts that are popular in China are the ones with a special flavor and with other textures. For example, a yogurt variety with pieces of chocolate or a caramel flavor. See the figures for the Yoghurt Market in China
These different varieties are more expensive but as motioned before the middle-class of China is willing to splurge more cash on dairy products and namely, yogurt.
Sales of functional and fortified yogurts in China are expected to increase 23 percent to 43 billion yuan this year compared to 2016. And by 2022, sales are expected to surge 56 percent to 75 billion yuan, according to Euromonitor International.
Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy (Group) Co Ltd is one of the country’s leading dairy producers has teamed with the multinational Danone. The French dairy company has helped Mongolia Mengniu Dairy with new yogurt-making technology.
You can also read our Full Guide to Exporting Milk in China
Yogurt: the most significant growth potential
“Yogurt has become one of the categories with the most significant growth potential as the high-end dairy product market is expanding,” Mengniu Dairy stated in its latest half-year report.
Something Mongolia Mengniu Dairy is planning to carry out is vending machines that sell yogurt. These vending machines will be located in neighborhoods, so Chinese consumers won’t have to walk too far from their homes to buy yogurt.
Yili Dairy Group and the Greek Academy of Agricultural Science founded Ambrosial yogurt. The sales of this company increased by 106.7 percent in 2016 compared to 2015. The reason for this sustainable amount is due to the fact that Ambrosial yogurt is a sponsor of the Chinese popular tv-program Running Man. The viewers of Running Man are the Chinese youth who are also the ones who are responsible for the increase in yogurt sales.
In total Yili Dairy Group spent over 2.5 billion yuan on tv-ads, print media, and radio in 2016. And this is only in China. It is a very large amount of money solely spent on tv-ads, print media, and radio but if you take into consideration that the sales of Ambrosial increase by 106.7 percent mainly because of Running Man, then isn’t that far of a stretch and rather good investment.
In addition to that Ambrosial yogurt has also launched new varieties of yogurt and improved old recipes. For example, a new variety is the new peach oat flavor. And by launching more diverse flavors, Ambrosial is responding to the sophisticated taste of the Chinese consumers. (source)
Mongolia Mengniu Dairy, Yili Dairy Group, and Bright Dairy are the three main producers based in China that lead the dairy sector with a sustainable 85 percent market share.
“About three to four years ago, through consumer research and sales data analysis, we discovered that Chinese consumers’ appetite for yogurt was shifting to nutritional and healthy products,” said Laurie Chen, dairy director of hypermarket merchandising at Walmart (China) Investment Co Ltd.
China’s Yoghurt Boom Attract International New Dairy Brands
“We promptly adjusted the structure of sales after we found that trend, and we deepened the cooperation with suppliers in new product development and releases,” he added. “Based on customer’s purchasing habits, we display the products on the shelves of our supermarkets.”
- source How to Promote Dairy Products in China
How to Launch your Yoghurt Brand in China?
1/ China is a Brand Market
2/ Enlarge Your Distribution
3/ Work on your Awareness
You can also read our Strategic Guide to Export Food Brands in China
4/ Develop your Own E-Commerce Channel
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China’s Yoghurt Market in 2026: What Actually Changed
The headline number: China’s yoghurt market hit RMB 199.8 billion in 2025. That is not a typo. It makes China the single largest yoghurt market on the planet, ahead of any country in Europe or North America. Growth is running at roughly 7% per year through 2030, according to Statista market forecasts.
But the headline hides the real story. The market is splitting in two, and the split matters for any brand thinking about entry.
Room-temperature yoghurt (often called 常温酸奶, “changwen suannai”) still dominates volume. Yili holds 57% of that segment. Mengniu holds 26%. If you are selling a shelf-stable product and competing head-on with them on price and distribution, reconsider your plan.
The chilled segment is where the energy is. Low-temperature yoghurt grew at 14.3% in recent years and is projected to maintain around 11% annual growth through 2026. Greek-style and skyr yoghurts now command a 40 to 50% price premium over standard products. That is a real premium people are actually paying.
The health signal is loud and specific. Chinese consumers in 2025 are not buying “yoghurt.” They are buying probiotic count, protein grams, and sugar content, in that order. One trend worth watching: “现制酸奶” (fresh-made yoghurt). Brands selling freshly prepared yoghurt in physical stores, priced between 13 and 26 RMB per cup, moved 1.17 million cups in five days for one launch tracked by 36Kr. The format borrows from the bubble tea playbook. The Xiaohongshu marketing dynamics for food brands follow a clear pattern: visual, health-coded, and community-validated.
For international brands, the cross-border route remains open. Tmall Global hosts over 46,000 foreign brands from 90-plus countries. Around 15,000 tonnes of yoghurt are imported into China annually. Understanding Chinese consumer behavior in 2026 means accepting one thing: health claims need to be specific, visible on the packaging, and repeated across every touchpoint. “Contains probiotics” is not enough. Tell them which strain, how many CFU, and what it does.
Western premium brands, including those already known in the China fashion market for lifestyle positioning, are applying the same logic to food. Premium is not just about price. It is about a story you can verify.
What This Means for Your Brand in China
- Do not compete on price with Yili and Mengniu. They own shelf space, distribution, and the middle market. Your angle is premium, imported, and specific: Greek style, skyr, A2 protein, specific probiotic strains.
- Enter through cross-border before committing to full import registration. Tmall Global lets you test demand with lower regulatory overhead. Use it to validate which product format and health claim actually converts with Chinese buyers before investing in local registration and cold-chain logistics.
- Build content before you build distribution. Xiaohongshu is where Chinese consumers discover premium food brands. Check the common Xiaohongshu mistakes brands make before you start, because the wrong approach wastes both time and budget.
- Lead with one specific health claim. High protein, specific probiotic strain, zero added sugar. Pick one and own it across your packaging, your Tmall listing, and your social content. Chinese consumers respond to precision, not to vague wellness language.
