Domestic dairy producers despair amid surge in imports

Many farmers are being forced to pour products down the drain, report Wang Zhuo qiong in Beijing and Zhao Ruixue in Jinan.

The plunging price of fresh milk has nearly forced Zhang Xuekai out of the business. The 30-year-old has managed a collective dairy farm in Licheng district of Jinan in Shandong province since 2012.The price of raw milk peaked in 2013,soaring to 5.7 yuan (91 cents) per kilogram, she still remembers.

But the good days had pretty much faded from her memory by April last year when the price had nearly halved to 3 yuan per kg, and situation is yet to improve.