Workers get busy constructing a world-class production plant in Hohhot. [Photo/Hohhot Daily]

Hohhot – capital of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – is making great strides in further developing its quality dairy industry.

The sector is widely viewed as one of the city's most competitive areas of endeavor, with a full industry supply chain planned, according to local media reports.

The municipal science and technology bureau is understood to have organized and carried out the development of major innovation platforms and key tech breakthroughs – in the dairy industry, biomedicines, the grass seed industry, the digital economy and the new materials sector.

Its aim is to improve the city's technological innovation system and strengthen its industry supply chain.

One example is the Mengniu Phase 8 5G digital large-scale low-temperature project with a total investment of 2.1 billion yuan ($315 million). It started construction in April 2021, including factories for fresh milk and cheese. The fresh milk factory went partially into operation at the end of last year.

An artist's impression of the planned Yili Modern Smart Healthy Valley in Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to en.hhhtnews.com]

Key dairy projects have started construction following a groundbreaking ceremony held on May 12 in the Mengniu China Dairy Industrial Park in Hohhot.

Nine projects started up involving a total investment of 5.02 billion yuan – including the Mengniu Phase 9 Milk Powder Factory, a COFCO Feed Factory, a Zhengyuan Dairy Cows Ecological Ranch and the Horinger Milk Goat Breeding Base.

Three factories – to produce Yili milk powder, liquid milk and cheese – are already under construction in the Yili Modern Smart Healthy Valley. Projects there, such as the construction of a National Dairy Technology Innovation Center, have also resumed activities.

The dairy tech innovation center will establish five research centers and three service platforms, in order to undertake scientific research and provide a range of services.