Yogurt ferments the dairy segment

Chinese consumers have taken a fancy to novel dairy products such as creamy, sweet, flavored yogurt and yogurt-based drinks.

Category sales have surged about 20 percent annually since 2014 to reach 122 billion yuan ($19.1 billion) in 2017, confirming the trend of health-related products tasting success in the China market.

And global consultancy firms such as Mintel are conducting consumer surveys and finding that about 50 percent of interviewees associate yogurt with key words and phrases such as "nutritious", "helps to boost immunity", "easy to digest" and "suitable for children and the old".