Hohhot in Inner Mongolia autonomous region began implementing the "dairy industry revitalizes the city" strategy in 2000, and put forward the vision of building "China's Milk Capital" in 2002.

Hohhot dairy industry has superior development conditions. [Photo/Hohhot Convergence Media]

The China Dairy Industry Association and the China National Light Industry Council held a sculpture unveiling ceremony marking the city as "China's Milk Capital" on Aug 28, 2005, establishing its core status as the nation's dairy hub.

In recent years, Hohhot has made the dairy industry a pillar of its modern industrial system with distinctive metropolitan features. It has cultivated two world-leading dairy enterprises, Yili and Mengniu, forming China's largest, most complete, and strongest dairy industry cluster.

Yili has established 15 innovation centers in various locations around the world, set up joint laboratories with top global research institutions and universities, and tackled key core technologies. It has also built 45 national-level green factories and five zero-carbon factories, and launched seven zero-carbon products and a number of green and low-carbon products.

Mengniu has built China's first full-category bovine milk deep-processing plant, achieving the deep integration of world-class hardware configuration and proprietary core technologies. It has also created the world's largest desert organic pasture, building a complete industrial chain covering organic planting, farming, and processing.

Hohhot forms China's largest, most complete, and strongest dairy industry cluster. [Photo/Hohhot Convergence Media]

Hohhot's dairy products industry cluster has been selected as a national advanced manufacturing cluster. In 2025, its total revenue of the entire dairy industry chain is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan ($443.98 billion).