Foreign brands dominate China's maternity market

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Despite higher costs, new parents in China are often opting for foreign brands when buying products for their baby, choosing the quality and safety of well-known brands

Qiao Xiaogang is a new mom from central China's Henan Province. Raising her first child, Qiao wants her daughter to have the best of everything, even if it may break the bank.

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"Baby cream, diapers, infant formula, bowls and spoons, her cooking set, etc. Everything I bought for her is imported," said Qiao.

Despite the higher costs of imported baby products, Qiao spends close to 40 percent of her monthly salary on her little one. She says it's all about quality and safety.

"If you walk into any supermarket or specialty store, you'll find that most of the baby products are foreign brands. And you can also buy them online, very easily," said Qiao.

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Across China, demand for imported baby products continues to rise. Experts say it's due in large part to social media.

From parenting advice to product reviews, Chinese moms love to share anything baby-related online. And the good word about foreign brands has spread quickly

"We sell imported goods from 70 different countries. Last year, we saw one billion yuan of sales volume. Maternity and baby products accounted for 40 percent. That's a huge sum," said Feng Lixuan, purchasing manager from Zhong Damen Bonded Commodity O2O Shopping Center.

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Experts say China's second-child policy and the e-commerce boom are revitalizing the maternity and baby product industry.

The market for maternity and baby products was 2.6 trillion yuan, according to a report by Babytree, a Chinese parenting website.

It's estimated that the number will exceed four trillion yuan by 2020. The report also shows that with quality and safety being the most important factors, foreign brands are likely to remain the top sellers.