Yashili gets go-ahead for NZ milk plant

WELLINGTON -- Chinese infant formula maker Yashili on Friday was given the green light to build and run a milk processing plant in the small North Island town of Pokeno, just south of New Zealand's largest city of Auckland.

The Waikato District Council gave approval for the plant, to be built at a cost of NZ$220 million ($171.03 million), after a three-day hearing that ended on Aug 2.

An appeal period of 15 days began on Aug. 27, said a statement from the council.

In April, New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office (OIO), which considers all foreign investments valued at more than NZ$100 million ($83.96 million), granted consent to Yashili's plans to build the plant.

China Mengniu Dairy announced this month that it is to buy a 75- percent stake in Yashili.

Other Chinese investors in New Zealand's dairy sector include Shanghai-based Bright Dairy, which purchased a 51-percent stake in the Synlait Milk dairy processing firm in 2010, and Shanghai Pengxin, which fought a long and bitter court battle last year to purchase 16 North Island dairy farms.