Asian countries ban Chinese milk products

BEIJING, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Asian countries are banning Chinese dairy products and foreign manufacturers are poised to benefit from China's tainted baby formula scandal, analysts say.

With the dairy products of three of China's leading brands found to contain traces of the banned chemical additive melamine, local Asian media say Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma and Bangladesh as well as Hong Kong have banned Chinese dairy products, BizChinaUpdate reported Sunday.

The publication said that while the European Union maintains no Chinese milk products have officially entered EU countries, it is warning illegally distributed dairy products from China should not be consumed.

Meanwhile, Chinese analysts say while the domestic dairy industry is crippled because of the scandal, foreign producers are rushing to fill the domestic void, China Daily reported.

Chen Lianfang, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants, told the newspaper the market dominance of foreign brands will likely now be further consolidated.

He said only three domestic brands are among China's top 10 sellers and two of them, Shengyuan and Yili, have been implicated in the current scandal.