Yili is one of the two giants of China's dairy industry, and has developed into the highest revenue dairy enterprise in China after the "melamine" incident in 2008, with a revenue of 68.058 billion yuan in 2017, surpassing Mengniu, which ranked second for several consecutive years. After several major food safety accidents, Chinese dairy enterprises have already begun to focus on the production of upstream milk sources, Yili currently has three golden milk source bases in Northwest, Inner Mongolia and Northeast China, and strives to develop high-quality milk sources in New Zealand, Australia and other overseas pastures.
 
In today's China's room temperature milk market, Yili's market share is as high as 31.6%, in addition to the most common "sterile bricks", Jindian, QQ Star, Shuhua Milk, Baibaijun and so on are all Yili's products, covering a wide range of consumer groups, which can meet different differentiated consumer needs. Thanks to its sponsorship of large-scale events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Yili has further broadened its brand recognition.
 
The spatial distribution of dairy resources in China is extremely uneven, and large areas of high-quality pastoral areas are concentrated in remote areas such as Inner Mongolia, with high quality and low cost of raw milk. However, the main consumer force is in densely populated first- and second-tier cities, so China's liquid pure milk products are mainly room temperature milk that is easy to transport and preserve. Yili aseptic brick is the earliest well-known pure milk, which is cost-effective and meets the needs of basic milk consumption. As the basic product of Yili, the protein content of aseptic bricks is 3.2g/100ml and the calcium content is 100mg/100g, which is better than that of general local dairy products, but the price is lower, and the advantages are very obvious.
 
After the expansion of business scale, Yili established high-end liquid milk brands such as Jindian and QQ Star. In the second year of its establishment, the Jindian brand launched China's first organic pure milk with a protein content of 3.6g/100ml and a calcium content of 120mg/100ml. The protein content of 3.6g/100ml has reached the level of high-quality milk in the Chinese market, which is a high-end product, and the price of Jindian organic milk is 76 yuan/12 boxes, which is much more expensive than ordinary milk.
 
The nutrition and flavor of room temperature milk have been criticized by many consumers. Compared with pasteurization, the nutritional loss is not large, but the flavor of the milk itself will be greatly affected, and it is not as good as pasteurized milk. In fact, in addition to the two mainstream heating and sterilization methods, there is also a microfiltration treatment method that is rarely used in the dairy industry. The whole line of Jindian series milk uses microfiltration technology, which makes the milk taste close to pasteurized milk, which greatly retains the taste of "freshly squeezed" milk, and the milk aroma is more natural and rich.
 
Milk is one of the best sources of protein and calcium, especially for children's growth, and the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that children over 2 years old drink 500g of milk per day, and children aged 4-7 years old 350-500g daily.
 
QQ Star is another high-end milk brand of Yili, focusing on "growth milk" for children. Yili QQ Star is a nutritious fortified milk, which is divided into fortified vitamins, fish oil, dietary fiber and other types. Fortified foods are popular in the United States and can effectively supplement children's trace elements, but such products are less common in China. QQ Star has done a good job in nutritional fortification, such as vitamin addition of 137 μg of vitamin A and 4.3 μg of vitamin D to one serving of milk, and the amount and proportion of the addition are appropriate. Although QQ Star is a prepared milk, the protein and calcium content are not inferior to ordinary pure milk, and the nutritional value is not reduced.
 
Yili's product types are complete and rich, and the channels are all over the country, which can meet the needs of various liquid milk consumption, and China's first lactose-free milk "Shuhua Milk" is also launched by Yili. In recent years, Yili has learned the lessons of insufficient control of upstream milk sources of Chinese dairy enterprises, continuously expanded high-quality milk sources in China and overseas, and deepened the layout of its own milk sources. The Golden Classic series of milk has been added with New Zealand imported milk and British Jersey cow milk. The protein content of Jindian New Zealand imported milk has reached 4.0g/100ml, and almost no Chinese milk can reach this level. The milk produced by British Jersey cows has a high milk fat content and a better milk flavor than ordinary pure milk, which is suitable for consumers who pursue a heavy milk taste.
 
In addition to this, Yili has established an overseas company in Canterbury, New Zealand, to produce the Bethlelan brand milk. The protein content of Bofeilan milk also reaches 4.0g/100ml, only 1L size large packaging, mainly sold in large supermarket chains, and the cost performance is higher than that of Jindian imported milk of the same grade, with a price of about 16.6/L. Since the beginning of 2019, the supply of Baifeilan in the Chinese market has been unstable, with large price fluctuations and frequent out-of-stocks.
 
Yili's high-end series milk is relatively expensive, and in terms of nutritional value alone, the cost performance is not as good as that of basic aseptic brick pure milk. If you're more interested in protein and calcium, you'll be fine with a basic product, but a high-end product will bring a better taste experience and will be worth paying a higher premium.