The Shanghai port has imported a total of US$60.19 million valued dairy products in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 40.8 percent from a year before, with the imports of butter and fresh milk soaring, the Shanghai Evening Post reported yesterday.

Milk solid and creams topped the list in import volumes from January to August this year, or US$39.92 million, up 38 percent from the previous year, and accounted for 66.3 percent of the total import volumes.

Import volumes of butter in the first eight months of the year reached US$2.5 million, 2.5 times as many as that in the previous year.

Dairy products imported from New Zealand, with a value of US$24.69 million, have covered 40 percent of the total dairy imports.

State-owned companies have played a leading role in dairy product imports during the eight months, with import volumes of US$44.16, an increase of 78.2 percent from a year before.

Joint venture companies have imported US$12.25 million valued dairy products via Shanghai port from January to August, down 30.9 percent from the previous year.

Private firms imported US$3.27 million valued dairy products during the eight months, 26.3 times as many as the previous year.

Imported dairy product hikes, especially for milk powders, will deal a heavy blow to the domestic dairy industry, said an industry analyst.

According to statistics, only four of the Chinese top ten milk power brands (according to market shares) are domestic ones, with a combined market shares of 29.2 percent, only eight percentage points higher than the champion Nestle.