Australian milk easily enters Guangzhou's market

A total of 8,346 liters of pasteurized milk from Australia was flown into Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Wednesday. The first large batch of milk of its kind was imported through the airport of the city.

Compared to many other major Chinese cities, Guangzhou enjoys favorable conditions, including short flying distance to Australian destinations, a large number of flights to the continent, and speedy clearance procedures at the airport, to facilitate the import of pasteurized milk, which has to go through strict cold chain management, said Lai Junfeng, deputy director of Guangzhou Airport Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

It took less than 20 minutes to clear the milk through. The milk was kept fresh through the lab testing done by Lai's bureau and milk distribution before it reached the consumers, he said. The milk, with a shelf life of 15 days, can reach the consumers in China in just four days after being locally produced in a farm in Tasmania, Australia, said Wang Zimeng, CEO of Australia Vanmilk Pty Ltd(China).

Chinese company Moon Lake Investments Pty bought the 191-year-old farm for 1.6 billion yuan ($240 million) in 2015, and then they started importing pasteurized milk through Ningbo, Zhejiang province in East China, last year.

The import through Guangzhou was initiated to meet the rapid growth in demand.

The Chinese market for pasteurized milk stands at about 12 billion yuan a year and is mostly supplied by local brands, with the Pearl River Delta region, where Guangzhou is located, being one of the major markets in the country, Wang said.

The milk imported through Guangzhou will be distributed through high-end supermarkets, e-commerce and direct delivery to consumers, in cooperation with a courier company with a sophisticated cold chain network, Wang said.

In May of last year, Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau enhanced their research in policies and issued supervision measures related to pasteurized milk importing in light of China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

A device placed in the refrigerated container carrying the milk transmitted the temperature data to an online supervision platform in an interval of every five minutes during its way from Australia to Guangzhou.

Fresh products imported from Australia through Guangzhou airport, including cherries, beef and milk, surged by 70 percent in tonnage year-on-year last year.