As niche demand enters mainstream view, Yipin Nutrition, a leading player in the goat milk powder segment, has embarked on its Hong Kong listing journey. On August 31, Yipin Nutrition Technology (Qingdao) Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yipin Nutrition"), headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, submitted its main board listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Haitong International and CITIC Construction Investment International serving as joint sponsors.

According to Frost & Sullivan data, based on 2024 retail sales of corresponding products, Yipin Group ranks second in China's goat milk powder market with a 14.0% market share; ranks second in China's infant formula goat milk powder market with a 17.6% market share; and ranks second among Chinese domestic brands in China's infant special medical purpose formula food market with a 4.5% market share.

For this Hong Kong listing, the company plans to use IPO proceeds for research and development, industrial chain upgrades and intelligent manufacturing, brand building and product marketing, international expansion, and strengthening the company's digital infrastructure.

**High Gross Margin of 50%, "Small But Beautiful" Niche Sector**

As the "runner-up" in the goat milk powder industry, Yipin Nutrition's fundamentals are certainly noteworthy. Yipin Nutrition is a full industrial chain dairy company that primarily focuses on researching, producing, and distributing low-allergen dairy products. The company's full industrial chain model covers the entire value chain from upstream self-owned farms, raw milk procurement, and core ingredient (such as goat whey) supply and processing, to midstream formulation and production, and downstream brand promotion, distribution, and consumer engagement.

Specifically, Yipin has self-owned farms and factories both domestically and internationally (such as in Spain, South Korea, and Heilongjiang, China), achieving a full industrial chain model from "pasture cultivation - dairy cow/goat breeding - production and processing." This effectively ensures the safety, stability, and quality of milk sources, aligns with consumption upgrade trends, and provides a solid foundation for responding to industry regulations.

The company owns multiple brands including Yipin, Beingmate, and Euroster, with products covering multiple price segments from mass market to premium and various segmented needs (such as goat milk, organic, and pure cow milk powder), capable of meeting customers with different consumption capabilities. Among these, Beingmate goat milk powder is one of the leading market brands with high recognition and good reputation.

Under the leading effect combined with full industrial chain layout, Yipin Nutrition's overall performance also demonstrates high profitability characteristics. According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, the company achieved revenues of RMB 1.402 billion, RMB 1.614 billion, and RMB 1.762 billion respectively, showing year-over-year growth. For the first half of 2025, the company's revenue was RMB 806 million, down 10.34% year-over-year.

Among these, infant formula goat milk powder is Yipin's core business, contributing over 55% of revenue from 2022 to 2024, reaching 55.6% in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, the company's gross margin has continuously increased during the reporting period: from 2022 to the first half of 2025, Yipin Nutrition's gross margins were 45.2%, 49.9%, 49.9%, and 50.9% respectively, matching or approaching industry leader Feihe.

Its gross margin may be related to its premium product mix (particularly high-margin goat milk powder) and full industrial chain model (controlling upstream costs).

However, since goat milk powder remains a relatively niche sector domestically, the company has invested considerable effort in marketing and promotion. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, the company's sales costs were RMB 768 million, RMB 809 million, RMB 883 million, and RMB 396 million respectively. This has obviously created some pressure on the company's profit margins, with net profits of RMB 227 million, RMB 168 million, RMB 172 million, and RMB 56.688 million for the same periods.

From the above data, with the help of multiple factors including full industrial chain and successful product premiumization, Yipin Nutrition not only has scale but also efficiency, proving to be "small but beautiful" in the milk powder niche sector. Of course, being in the niche goat milk powder sector, profit erosion due to brand building is obviously inevitable for the company.

**High-Potential Niche Sector vs Obvious Monopolistic Landscape**

Overall, China's infant milk powder industry is in a period of deep adjustment and transformation characterized by "peak total volume, structural upgrade." On one hand, core driving factors have disappeared, with China's newborn population declining for consecutive years (9.02 million births in 2023), which is the industry's biggest challenge. The "fundamental base" of the milk powder market continues to shrink, completely transitioning from incremental to stock competition.

On the other hand, policy regulation is extremely strict, with high industry entry barriers. The new national standards implemented in 2023, called the "strictest standards in history," set more refined requirements for nutritional element content and ratios in milk powder formulas. All brands must resubmit formula registration applications, with those failing to pass being eliminated. This has led to numerous small and medium brands and OEM products exiting the market, accelerating industry concentration and benefiting leading and highly compliant companies.

Under this development background, the industry also shows characteristics of consumption trend upgrades and differentiation. First, consumers are shifting from "eating enough" to "eating well," with premium and ultra-premium product lines growing faster. Second, niche sectors such as goat milk powder, organic milk powder, and special formula powder (such as hydrolyzed protein milk powder suitable for allergic babies) are growing faster than regular cow milk powder, becoming important growth drivers.

In other words, against the backdrop of overall milk powder industry peaking, goat milk powder represents one of the few value opportunities that can still maintain high growth. According to Frost & Sullivan data, goat milk powder belongs to a segment within the overall milk powder market and, as an alternative protein source, is expected to achieve stable growth, outperforming the overall milk powder market. From 2020 to 2024, goat milk powder retail sales grew from RMB 20.8 billion to RMB 25.0 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.7%. Looking ahead, goat milk powder retail sales are expected to reach approximately RMB 31.8 billion by 2029, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% from 2024 to 2029.

Among these, Yipin Nutrition, as one of the leading companies in the goat milk powder niche sector, will obviously benefit from the growth potential of this sector.

However, it should be noted that the milk powder industry's competitive landscape is highly concentrated, with obvious monopolistic tendencies. Currently, domestic and international giants such as Feihe, Wyeth, Danone, Junlebao, Mead Johnson, and a2 occupy the vast majority of market share. The top ten brands already have very high market concentration, with the market showing typical "winner-takes-all" Matthew effects, making entry barriers for new brands extremely high.

Despite having reputation in niche areas, Yipin's overall brand voice and influence still have significant gaps compared to super-leading brands like Feihe, Junlebao, and Danone. Therefore, this is probably a key reason why Yipin Nutrition invests heavily in marketing and consumer mindshare building.

In summary, it's clear that the goat milk powder sector is evolving from a "small but beautiful" differentiated option to a "large and strong" mainstream battleground. The future will test both players' determination to deeply cultivate the industry and their ability to expand boundaries. For Yipin, there are both opportunities and challenges, but as long as the company maintains its quality and industrial chain advantages, deepens its leadership position in niche areas like goat milk powder, and works to enhance brand effects through precise marketing and channel innovation, Yipin Nutrition's long-term growth prospects are quite promising.