Yili to invest $327m on four New Zealand dairy projects

China and New Zealand have partnered to unveil the Yili Oceania Production Base, which is the first in a series of cooperation projects between the two countries and will cost Yili around $20m.

Yili will invest a total of around $327m in four dairy projects.

According to the company, with the production base that covers packaging, production, processing and R&D, the two countries have created the world’s largest integrated dairy production facility.

The four projects will be a raw milk deep-processing project, a UHT liquid milk project, a milk powder production facility and a packaging facility.

The raw milk deep-processing project and the UHT liquid milk project involved an investment of $32.63m and nearly $81.58m respectively.

The company claims that the technology will become the largest and most advanced of its kind in New Zealand.

The company has also set aside $158.80m for establishing a milk powder plant with an annual production capacity 56,000t.

The Yili group has also signed an agreement on scientific cooperation across the whole dairy industry chain with the Lincoln Universit that involves both sides performing in-depth cooperation based on their resources and technological advantages, focusing on the strategy of whole dairy industry chain.

The project is aimed at improving nutrition and quality assurance in dairy products.

Yili signed these two cooperation projects during the visit of Chinese leaders to New Zealand.

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Image: China’s Yili will invest close to $327m on four dairy projects in New Zealand. Photo: courtesy of Naypong / freedigitalphotos.net.