Yili closes deal with DFA in setting up US dairy plant

Customers walk past cartons of Yili Shuhua milk at a supermarket in Zhengzhou city, Central China's Henan province, Jan 2, 2014. [Photo/IC]

HOHHOT - Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, one of China's largest dairy providers, has signed a deal with US milk cooperative Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) to set up a world class dairy plant in Kansas.

The joint venture has a registered capital of $100 million with Yili holding 30 percent of the stake, according to a bulletin published by the Shanghai-listed firm on Thursday,

The new plant plans on producing 80,000 tons of dairy powder a year.

Zhang Jianqiu, CEO of Yili, said bridging American dairy farmers with Chinese consumers, the project was a win-win deal. For Yili, it improves dairy making technology and quality management.

Yili reaped net profit of 2.3 billion yuan ($374.6 million) in the first half of this year, a jump of 31.93 percent year on year, ranking first among Chinese dairy producers, according to a company report in August. The dairy company's operating revenues during the period reached 27.3 billion yuan, up 13.59 percent year on year.

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