The mainland’s biggest milk producer, China Mengniu Dairy, will maintain its policy of withholding interim dividends, despite a 34% jump in first-half profits.

The company’s chief financial officer says the company would pay a dividend once a year instead.

Faced with increased competition, the company’s net margin has dropped slightly from 5.3% a year ago to 5.2% for the six months to June. But, according to ACNielsen, the group has a 25.6% market share by volume in the liquid milk industry compared with 22% in December.

In a bid to fend off competition, Yili plans to introduce more high value-added products to various market segments. The company lost about $370,000 on its ice-cream production plant in Anhui, which was damaged by fire early this year.