An employee works at a milk production line of the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co in Hohhot. [Photo/Xinhua]  

Hohhot's agriculture and animal husbandry are centered on the dairy industry with a high-tech, high value-added system that is also tourism-centered, with better services.

It has two well-known dairy brands -- Yili and Mengniu -- and a dynamic industry supply, with large market potential at home and abroad.

In 2009, it had 700,000 cows producing 3 million tons of milk annually, bringing in at least 50 billion yuan ($7.03 billion). The number of cows, milk production and consumption per capita put it in top place in China and it was named "China's Milk City" by the China Dairy Industry Association in 2005. More than 30 of its products qualify for the green food logo.

In August, 2005, Hohhot's total milk production, milk processing volume and urban residents’ per capita share of fresh milk ranked first in China. The dairy industry of Hohhot has become an important pillar industry for increasing local fiscal revenue and households' income.

In 2007, at the first China-Inner Mongolia International Dairy Festival Dairy Development Summit Forum, Hohhot officially proposed developing itself as a dairy city.

In 2018, Hohhot city formulated and issued the Several Opinions on Building an Upgraded Version of China's Dairy City and the Three-year Action Plan for Upgrading and Development of Dairy Industry in Hohhot. These were aimed at boosting the city's dairy industry and forming an international dairy industry cluster and a world-class dairy innovation center.

In 2018, the city's large-scale dairy farming rate reached more than 98 percent and nearly 85 percent of rural households entered the industrialization chain. The total annual revenue of Yili Group and Mengniu Dairy reached nearly 150 billion yuan combined that year.

In 2019, Yili Group and Mengniu Dairy were among the top 10 global dairy companies.