The a2 Milk Company boss David Bortolussi expects China’s birth rate to bottom out this calendar year and he is banking on an increase in the number of weddings to boost the number of babies born over the coming two years, as the nation’s largest baby formula export market reopens from its zero-COVID policy.

China’s population is expected to shrink further this year, after the number of newborns fell 10 per cent over calendar 2022 and the formula market contracted. Although the Chinese government has sought to implement programs such as tax breaks to slow the falling birth rate in recent years, it has not worked.