by QIN Lixin

At Milkground's booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, pizza topped with scallion-oil noodles offered a distinctly local take on cheese.

The Chinese company, best known for its children's cheese sticks, was showing how its products could find a place in everyday meals. Nearby, Norwegian dairy producer TINE was taking a different approach: offering bite-sized portions of its caramel-flavored brown cheese as a snack.

Both are trying to reach consumers whose familiarity with cheese increasingly extends beyond pizza and children's snacks. As tastes broaden, producers are developing products for adults, home cooking and restaurant menus.

China imported 196,600 metric tons of cheese in 2025, up from 75,600 tons a decade earlier, according to customs figures. Imports rose another 18% year on year to 152,100 tons in the first eight months of 2026, even as overall dairy imports fell 3.5%, according to the China Dairy Trade Monthly.

For TINE, that growing appetite offers an opening. A dairy trade protocol signed by Norwegian and Chinese authorities during last year's expo paved the way for Norwegian brown cheese to enter China. In October, TINE marked its first China-bound batch at its Byrkjelo dairy in western Norway.

Erik Smith-Hansen, executive vice-president of TINE International, told Jiemian News that the company had been watching China's cheese market since the pandemic and saw it growing and maturing.

More consumers were willing to try unfamiliar flavors and take inspiration from other food cultures, he said — a shift extending well beyond cheese.

One Shanghai-based trade visitor at the expo described a similar progression.

"I used to think cheese just meant cheese sticks for children. Then I tried some bread with cheese and thought it tasted good," the visitor told Jiemian News.

Slices tucked into breakfast toast led to cheese paired with ham and red wine. "Now I'm hooked on the flavor."

Processed cheese helped introduce many Chinese consumers to the category. Brands including Milkana and Milkground adapted flavors and formats to local preferences, selling slices, individually wrapped wedges and sticks that required little preparation.

Milkana helped bring cheese onto family tables through slices and wedges. Milkground built its appeal around children's snacks, emphasizing convenient portions and nutrition.

Both are now seeking more adult customers.

Milkana told Jiemian News that its miniature shell-shaped cheese portions, introduced in 2025, target young women and office workers looking for snacks or something to accompany afternoon tea.

Milkground's expo display included small wedges and cubes for adults, alongside slices intended for home cooking. Its first-half report also described new shelf-stable cheese slices that require no refrigerated storage, making them easier to keep and carry.

Restaurants offer another route into consumers' diets. People who rarely buy cheese on its own may already eat it regularly in pizza, bread and other baked goods.

At the expo, Milkground paired its mozzarella display with dishes such as the scallion-oil noodle pizza, giving restaurant customers ideas for incorporating cheese into familiar flavors.

The company told Jiemian News that it had introduced domestically produced natural mozzarella at the 2025 expo and returned this year with an upgraded version jointly developed with Danish dairy group Arla. Local production allows it to adapt products to restaurant customers' needs.

Greater familiarity with cheese is also creating opportunities for imported varieties with distinctive flavors and textures, including TINE's brown cheese.

Smith-Hansen said the company's experience elsewhere in Asia had shown how consumers could develop uses unfamiliar in Norway. Some grate brown cheese over baked treats; in South Korea, it also appears in spicy chicken noodles.

For producers seeking repeat purchases in China, those everyday uses may matter as much as the first taste.