Double-digit growth! Mengniu Fresh Milk outperforms the industry with its "fresh" strength

On March 25, Mengniu Dairy (2319.HK) released its 2025 annual results report. For the full year, it achieved revenue of 82.24 billion yuan, with operating profit of 6.56 billion yuan. Among them, Mengniu’s fresh milk segment delivered a standout performance: full-year revenue grew by double digits, comprehensively led the fresh milk segment, and its market share continued to expand.

As more and more consumers turn Mengniu fresh milk from an “occasional treat” into a “daily necessity,” only then does a brand’s moat truly get dug deep. So, during this period of industry adjustment, what exactly did Mengniu fresh milk get right? Today, we’ll break down the “fresh” strength behind this set of results.

Three-pronged advance, interpreting “high-quality” growth in all dimensions

The performance Mengniu fresh milk delivered in 2025 is certainly impressive in terms of double-digit growth rates. But if you focus only on the financial figures, you might miss the real highlight. Because behind the growth rate is a more值得关注的 “high-quality growth,” and this “high-quality” is reflected in three dimensions.

First, the user mix is being optimized.

In 2025, as the core force behind Mengniu fresh milk business, Daily Fresh Language centered its brand campaign around the “fresh-milk” mindset throughout the year—from the cross-year IP matrix at the start of the year generating 5 billion+ exposures, to the second quarter taking the No. 1 brand share of all-network brand voice with breakout content IP such as “The Journey to Chang’an’s Lychee,” and then to the third quarter where it partnered with Disney to launch innovative packaging and appeared in the C-suite ad slot after the CCTV parade live broadcast. In the fourth quarter, it teamed up with CCTV.com to create a traceability film.

This sustained, high-density exposure enables the brand to build connections with consumers from different circles in different ways, successfully converting brand momentum into social assets, and ultimately achieving both a stronger brand capability and double No. 1 industry rankings in the overall social-media composite index.

This also means that Mengniu fresh milk’s growth no longer relies only on repeat purchases from existing users, but instead brings more and more “new user segments” in proactively through a series of targeted brand moves.

Second, the product mix is diverging.

In the current product structure of Mengniu fresh milk, the Daily Fresh Language 4.0 series firmly occupies the position of the high-end core, “A Jin of Fresh Milk” targets the mass fresh milk market, Youpro A2β-casein fresh milk taps precisely into the targeted nutrition segment, the lactose-free series (0 lactose) addresses the long-ignored group with lactose intolerance, and Little Fresh Language builds a distinctive recognition label among young women consumers with a pure formulation and flavor innovation.

As can be seen, from basic nutrition to functional segmentation, from the mass market to specific target groups, Mengniu fresh milk’s product matrix is evolving from “spot breakout products” to a “systematic layout.” This structured product strength means Mengniu fresh milk’s growth no longer depends on the lifecycle of a single SKU; instead, it is jointly supported by multiple growth engines, with clearly enhanced resilience to risks and growth staying power.

Finally, the channel structure is evolving.

In 2025, a large portion of the incremental growth for Mengniu fresh milk did not come from “out-competing” traditional channels, but from forward-looking positioning for emerging channels and scenario innovation.

In big-box retail stores and O2O channels, Mengniu fresh milk’s market share stays No. 1 in the industry; on mainstream e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Tmall, and Pinduoduo, its market share is also No. 1. In the snack system, a new product co-created with “Mingming Very Busy” has the No. 1 share in the milk category, successfully binding high-frequency consumption scenarios to fresh milk. In membership stores, whether it’s Sam’s香芋奶 (“taro milk”) and蜜瓜奶 (“honeydew milk”), or Hema’s banana fresh milk (“banana milk made from fresh dairy”) and red bean danggui milk, the channel-customized products frequently become breakout hits, fully unlocking the growth potential of customization.

In addition, in the B-side, Mengniu fresh milk also works deeply with leading brands such as Starbucks, Bawang Chaqi (霸王茶姬), Chabaitao (茶百道), and Guming (古茗). This further extends fresh milk application scenarios from the family dining table to new-style tea drinks and coffee stores, opening up an entirely new space for incremental growth.

It’s not hard to see that Mengniu fresh milk’s high-quality growth is the result of a systematic upgrade built on coordinated strengthening of brand power, product power, and channel power. Every growth point has a clear supporting logic, and each expansion has structural follow-through prepared in advance. Perhaps this is the deeper highlight of Mengniu fresh milk’s set of results that deserves the most attention.

“Fresh” Engineering: full-chain control from milk sources to terminals

If the “change in structure” enabled by the three-pronged approach above is the externally visible part of the high-quality transformation, then the “change in capability” in Mengniu fresh milk’s supply chain is the internally integrated part of high-quality transformation. What makes it impressive is that it turns the “fresh” concept into a complete system project.

From the source, all milk used by Daily Fresh Language comes from GAP-level certified farms. The average total bacterial count in raw milk is <1.3万 CFU/mL, and the average somatic cell count is <1.3 million/mL—both two key figures are far better than EU standards. But Mengniu didn’t stop at “having good milk sources.” Instead, it systematized these high standards into a replicable, traceable “full-chain, seven-dimensional benchmark” system.

“Full-chain” refers to the end-to-end industrial-chain layout from planting forage, to raising dairy cows, to transporting source milk, and then to production and processing. “Full-dimensional” is reflected in seven dimensions—farm, milk source, speed, technology, nutrition, taste, and responsibility—where it practices benchmark-level standards that go beyond the industry.

After setting the standards, the next step is to make sure the entire chain can run effectively and steadily. According to the financial report, Mengniu fresh milk’s cold chain has completed the node network construction of 6 major core regions nationwide and 18 strategic warehousing and distribution centers. Based on the rapid business development, it built a fulfillment network covering 7 factories, 34 cloud warehouses, and 197 dedicated lines. Transportation resources cover three methods: land transport, air transport, and high-speed rail. It can flexibly allocate resources according to different regions and different channel needs.

Meanwhile, the infrastructure that consumers can’t see is also being upgraded in parallel. For example, in 2025, Mengniu’s nationwide electronic proof of delivery went live, fully enabling paperless operations and improving labor productivity. Its Wuhan factory launched an automated warehouse, automatically sorting and transporting items to trucks, greatly increasing loading efficiency. Full-chain transparency and traceability allow the status of every bottle of fresh milk to be traced and perceived. These “invisible investments” are precisely the fundamental guarantee that supports stable quality at the terminal for Daily Fresh Language.

Even more worth paying attention to is that Mengniu fresh milk is continually internalizing and upgrading this “fresh” capability. Its incubation workshop officially put into production in 2025 has flexible production capacity with minimum order quantities starting at 2 tons, supports 11 process combinations, and is compatible with multiple packaging formats such as cartons and PET bottles.

This means Mengniu can complete pilot production from R&D to mass production within the shortest time, significantly shortening the new product launch cycle. At the same time, it reduces new product investment risks and scheduling pressure, providing a fast-response “pilot and testing platform” for channel customization and category innovation.

In the final analysis, competition in the fresh milk business is not ultimately about marketing creativity—it’s about the thickness of the supply chain. The growth of Mengniu fresh milk in 2025, on the surface, is a victory in products and channels; beneath the surface, it is a system-capability realization from milk sources to terminals, and from data to delivery.

When these capabilities are repeatedly refined and continuously evolved, “fresh” is no longer just a descriptor—it becomes a structural barrier that competitors find difficult to replicate.

Beyond business: the “value spillover” of a cup of fresh milk

Beyond those growth numbers written in the financial statements, in 2025 Mengniu fresh milk’s “value spillover” beyond business is also especially worth attention.

First is brand value spillover. Daily Fresh Language experienced a concentrated breakthrough on the international stage: its rooftop pack won the silver award for “Best Appearance Packaging” at the World Dairy Product Innovation Awards, and its double-protein product won a three-star medal at the International Deliciousness Awards. It also won the Special Gold Award at the World Tasting Conference and ranked among the top 5 in the world food category for that year.

When a domestic fresh milk brand can repeatedly stand on international award stages, what it represents is no longer just a brand—but a formal recognition of China’s dairy industry manufacturing level as a whole. From looking up to international standards in the past to being recognized by international peers today, Daily Fresh Language’s award-winning path is also a journey of China’s dairy industry moving from catching up to running alongside, and in some dimensions starting to lead.

Second is business value spillover. As an important wing in Mengniu’s “one body, two wings” strategy, the group’s frontier exploration in nutrition and health has, in many cases, first tried, tested, and scaled innovations in the fresh milk category.

In short, the value of the fresh milk business has long surpassed a single business unit. It is becoming the innovation testing ground for the group’s professional nutrition direction: frontier technologies are implemented here, new business models are run and validated here, and then they are replicated and promoted to other business segments.

Finally is sustainable value spillover. In 2025, Mengniu fresh milk carried out more practices in the ESG space, such as switching all-series rooftop packs to FSC-certified materials, receiving Walmart’s “Emissions Reduction Master” title, and being selected as a case for ESG courses at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In Mengniu’s view, a cup of good milk not only needs to satisfy consumers’ taste, but also needs to respect the land beneath our feet.

In 2025, Mengniu fresh milk saw more visible practices in the ESG domain. These include switching all-series rooftop pack products to FSC-certified paperboard, gradually removing PVC packaging materials from PET bottled products, and making Daily Fresh Language become the official authorized and sole designated milk supplier for the Hong Kong Climate Forum. Its fresh milk ESG case was successfully selected for The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s courses. Then Mengniu fresh milk, together with supply chain partners, jointly established an ESG business alliance, upgrading sustainable development efforts from those of a single company to coordinated actions across the entire industry chain.

Behind these practices is Mengniu’s simple belief: a cup of good milk must not only match consumers’ taste, but also honor the land under our feet. It is this belief that makes the meaning of a cup of fresh milk go beyond the product itself, and begin to resonate across a broader range of dimensions.

In summary, over the past year, Mengniu fresh milk proved with tangible results that even during an industry adjustment period, opportunities still exist. The key is whether the enterprise has the ability to capture these opportunities. From a cup of milk to a way of life, from product value to social value, Mengniu fresh milk’s imagination is only just beginning to unfold.

(Editor: Wang Zhiqiang HF013)

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