Inner Mongolia on path to dairy industry revitalization

North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has gradually revitalized its dairy industry.

Inner Mongolia is located in the internationally recognized golden milk source belt. Its milk production increased from 5.53 million metric tons in 2017 to 6.12 million tons in 2020, making it the only region in the country with milk production exceeding 6 million tons a year.

The region also has two of China's leading dairy brands, Yili and Mengniu.

In 2020, the sales revenue of dairy product processing enterprises above designated size in Inner Mongolia came in at 93.47 billion yuan ($14.02 billion), accounting for 48.1 percent of the total sales revenue of the agricultural and livestock products processing industries in the region.

Since 2019, Inner Mongolia has successively promulgated various policies such as the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Revitalization of the Dairy Industry", the "Three-year Action Plan for the Rejuvenation of the Dairy Industry", and "Several Measures to Promote the Development of the Ethnic Traditional Dairy Industry".

The region has systematized its dairy industry support, forming a diversified investment mechanism with government investment guidance, financial precision services, and social support.

Among the preferential policies, Inner Mongolia invests 400 million yuan each year to support the breeding link to reduce costs, make up for shortcomings, and increase benefits.

In addition, each year, Inner Mongolia provides 500,000 yuan in financial support for the upgrading and transformation of 100 traditional dairy product processing pilots and for the transformation and upgrading of more than 1,000 small and medium-sized farms.

Meanwhile, Inner Mongolia is making efforts to build forage grass bases, seed source bases, milk source bases, industrial clusters, and other key links to enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of its dairy industrial chain.

The region has built 65 national standardized demonstration dairy farms and 50 digital pastures.

It has also promoted the development of 10 dairy industry chains in its seven leagues and cities, highlighting the Yili Modern Smart Health Valley and Mengniu China Dairy Industrial Park.

Additionally, Inner Mongolia promotes the development of its traditional dairy products.

It currently has more than 1,000 traditional dairy production and processing workshops, with an annual processing output value of more than 1 billion yuan, and the output of dried cheese accounts for more than 70 percent of the national total.

Traditional dairy products based on Xiliin Gol cheese are expanding from throughout the whole country.

To improve product quality, Inner Mongolia has established the country's first third-party inspection and testing center for fresh milk quality and safety, which carries out whole-process supervision and monitoring from feeding to breeding, milk stations, processing, and sales.

Thanks to these efforts, the quality of fresh milk in Inner Mongolia is higher than national standards.