Inner Mongolia's Yili Industrial (Group) Co is currently China's leader in the dairy business with the largest production and best production lines. It is also China's only dairy products company to meet Olympics and World Expo standards and supplied both the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
The Yili Group covers five areas -- milk, raw milk, cold drinks, milk powder, and yogurt – and has at least 130 branches and subsidiaries across China, with hundreds of products that include popsicles, ice cream, milk tea, and cheese.
Its brand value was worth 20.55 billion yuan ($3.38 billion), by 2009, and it had been a leader in China's dairy business for six consecutive years and had certain advantages. Its motto was "Develop the domestic market with global resources" and it worked to improve technology and stimulate innovation.
It also helped found China's first professional "Dairy Research Institute" and was a pioneer in R&D in the industry, spending many million yuan every year. It established Yili Shuhua Milk as China's first milk specifically designed for Asians, who often cannot tolerate lactose.
It also set up the the first human milk database with samples from Chinese mothers with various agencies and helped establish the Secretariat of National Cold and Frozen Drink Standardization.
Its innovation allows it to build competitiveness and meet the needs of a healthier, happier country and to give new meaning to the "Made in China" label and become a global Top-10 dairy giant.