Foreign companies stir the pattern of China's health food market

By the end of 2008, China had approved 11,275 health food products, including 10,639 domestic health food products and 618 imported health food products. Now there are more than 1,600 health food production companies with an annual output value of more than 100 billion yuan. Zhang Fenglou, chairman of the China Health Association, said that in recent years, China’s health care industry’s output value has accounted for about 2% of the GNP, and in developed countries, this ratio has generally surpassed 15%, and is increasing at an annual rate of 15% to 30%. . In Europe and the United States, consumers spend an average of more than 2% of their total expenditure on health foods, compared with 0.07% in China.

"Learning from the industrial development experience of the United States and Japan, when the per capita GDP exceeds 3,000 U.S. dollars, this industry will break out." Lin Jingxin, a public relations marketing specialist at Sun Yat-sen University, said that at present, China's per capita GDP has exceeded 3,600 U.S. dollars and it has entered middle-income countries. The ranks of China's rising consumption levels have made China's nutrition and health care industry enter a high growth period.

Today's nutrition and health food industry has obvious differences from the traditional traditional health food industry. This is a high-tech industry based on modern nutrition science and biotechnology. Dietary supplement market is very mature in the United States, Japan and other countries. In the United States, there are more than 200 million Americans taking dietary supplements daily as a safe and natural way to maintain health and supplement dietary nutrients. The pursuit of a reasonable diet, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, and the reduction of the risk of chronic diseases have become the fashion of Americans today.

It is reported that China is now the largest supplier of raw materials in the world's nutrition and health care industry and is becoming the world's preparation center. The world's leading nutrition and health food companies have shifted their development focus to China, and the Chinese market will become the world's largest nutritional and health care market. Figures from the China Health Food Association show that the potential for domestic health product purchases has reached 800 billion yuan, but actual sales are only 200 billion yuan. At present, China's per capita drug consumption is only 1/40 to 1/30 of that of developed countries in Europe and America. Per capita health food consumption expenditure is only 1/20 of that of the United States and 1/15 of Japan, which also shows the medical and health food market on the other hand. Huge room for growth and development potential.

Domestic enterprises should actively respond to challenges

"For Chinese companies, the business opportunities and challenges in the health care market coexist." Zhang Fenglou believes that at present, China's health food companies are facing competition from international giants. According to an investigation by an authoritative organization, sales of foreign brands have increased by 12% every year for the past five years. Of every 100 consumers who buy health foods, 15 have purchased foreign health foods. There are few companies that can compete with these multinational companies in China. Some experts pointed out that China should include the health care industry in the Catalogue of Guidance on Industrial Structure Adjustment and give strong support in terms of technology, taxation, and financial policies.

In the past two years, domestic health food companies have also been favored by foreign capitals. Beijing Besunyen, Yisheng Kangjian and other companies have become the stars of many investment institutions. According to industry analysts, there are international giants pushing the market together, and the rapid development of industries can be expected, but it also puts tremendous pressure on the development of domestic enterprises. How to integrate superior resources in the future, continuously strengthen the company's core competitiveness, maintain sustained growth, and dance with international giants, and become a common challenge faced by domestic health food companies.

Lin Jingxin believes that the health food industry and even the nutrition industry in China are both new and rising industries in the sunrise industry and contain tremendous opportunities. Currently, the market is in an initial stage of full competition but low concentration. In the future, the market will be highly concentrated in several major brands and enterprises like other mature consumer products markets.

On August 1 in Shanghai, more than 100 media across the country witnessed Yao Ming’s signing of a healthy, nutritious food for Tomson. It turns out that Yao Ming, who has been in the United States for many years, is very familiar with health foods. The US dietary supplement market and nutritive and healthy consumption concepts are mature. For many years of his career as an athlete, Yao Ming knew that health foods based on preventive medicine and modern biotechnology could well maintain the nutritional balance of the human body and reduce the incidence of diseases. In China, the health food industry started late. The Chinese concept of healthy consumption has yet to be established. Consumer awareness of health foods needs to be improved. Wang Yukun, a Jiangsu Suyu pharmacy management company, believes that Tomson's idea of ​​purchasing raw materials globally has an international perspective. This also suggests that domestic health food companies should actively look for support points for brand breakthroughs.

Healthy development requires policy specifications

As early as 1936, the United States enacted the "Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act," recognizing that vitamins, minerals, and other dietary ingredients have food properties. In 1994, the United States "Dietary Supplement Health Education Act" was passed. This regulation has a milestone significance for the dietary supplement industry.

The Legal Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China announced in full on May 31, 2009 that the Ministry of Health submitted the “Regulations on the Supervision and Management of Health Food (Draft for Ratification)” reviewed by the State Council, soliciting opinions from all sectors of society. The current solicitation has ended, but the introduction of the "Regulations" has still been delayed several times. Recently, there are 70 health food companies participating and more than a dozen corporate executives drafted jointly by the "Regulations on the Regulations for the Supervision and Administration of Health Food (Draft for Ratification)" that are being drafted through a number of channels to consistently reflect recommendations to decision makers. It is worth noting that the health food industry has always been one of the most controversial industries in China. It is not uncommon for common foods to pose as health foods, false propaganda, and exaggeration of functions. Looking back at the history of the industry, the three oral liquids went from glory to depravity overnight. The Sun God, Shenyang Feilong, and Neptune Kingfisher could only be “three-fifths”, and the short-sightedness of health food brands was embarrassing.

Over the years, there are numerous small and medium-sized enterprises in the domestic health food market, lacking industry leading enterprises, uneven quality of employees, disorderly market competition, and the order of the industry to be standardized. These conditions all indicate that the domestic health food market needs to be upgraded urgently Enterprises should strictly regulate their own behavior and re-establish consumer trust in the industry. Experts also pointed out that relevant policies and regulations should be introduced as soon as possible, and continuous improvement is essential for the healthy development of the health food industry.