Revive industry by rebuilding market

It is improper for the China Dairy Industry Association to promote some domestic dairy products officially as the "national team" of Chinese dairy industry, says an article of the Southern Metropolis Daily. Excerpt:

The association has a strong government background, but its promotion of certain domestic brands in the name of reviving the nation's dairy industry actually has a lot of side effects.

It is not the right remedy for the case in the first place. The association should reflect on why domestic consumers have lost their trust in local brands since the melamine incident in 2008. Quality watchdogs and the dairy association failed to protect consumers' interests. To some extent, they even tried to cover up the truth at first.

If the association really wants to revive the industry, it should avoid taking sides between the enterprises and the consumers. Yet, given its financial dependence on the nation's dairy industry, it would be unrealistic for it to cause trouble for the enterprises.

The association has to some extent become an advertising agency for its members.

The association's high-pitch promotion breaks the market rules of free competition. The government and association should draw lessons from the past setbacks of the Chinese dairy industry, which has been caused by the authority and association's dereliction of duties. But their duties are not to offer support to big brands through preferential policies but to strengthen supervision over the industry. They need to create a fair market environment to let the competent players weed out the weaker ones.