Quality
a burning issue in China

Tetra Pak essentially created the aseptic packaging market in the world’s most populous country with the sale of its first filling line to China in 1979. Thirty years on, Tetra Pak China has managed to keep its leading position in the face of ever-growing competition. A trend as the Chinese market matures is that customers – most of whom are local – are becoming more sophisticated and more demanding.

"We have to raise our standards and our performance because the competition is doing so. When you are in the position we have been in for a long time, we look at things in a different way. What the customer is telling us is that we have to look at it from their angle as well", says Hudson Lee, Managing Director of Tetra Pak China.

Quality is the main concern in the country after the scandal in 2008, where milk tainted with melamine caused a major health scare as a result of a number of infant fatalities and hospitalised many more. The scandal dealt a massive blow to Chinese consumers’ trust in milk and other dairy products.

"The positive side, if there is one, is that the events educated the consumer and the government on the importance of food safety. It sped up the regulation of the supply chain, from farm to production and packaging. And today, the industry recognises the importance of working with a reputable supplier that is conscious of quality and safety – like Tetra Pak", says Hudson Lee