Grass-fed cream on the way to Chinese bakers

Resident director for Yili in New Zealand, Shiqing Jian, said the two-year collaboration between Westland Dairy and parent company Yili had managed to overcome the inherent variability of grass-fed milk to produce cream with a consistency suitable for Chinese bakers.

The product, Yili Pro UGT Whipping Cream, will be available to Chinese consumers this October.

Jian said Yili's growth as an international brand relied strongly on innovation and longstanding research and development investment.

New product sales accounted for 16% of Yili's total revenue in 2020 with Yili now ranked the fifth largest dairy producer globally.

The dairy company was also recently awarded most valuable dairy brand in the word for the fourth year running as well as the second most valuable food brand in Brand Finance's annual global brand rankings.

"Yili's international growth has been based on a philosophyof 'global mindset-local operations'," Jian said. "It's extremely rewarding to see an international vision translated into new business capabilities in New Zealand and Asia through this kind of global collaboration."

Westland chief executive Richard Wyeth said overcoming the different milk and production methods of New Zealand and China was the first hurdle teams from China and Westland had to overcome in proving the long-standing New Zealand dairy operation could produce a whipping cream suitable for the Chinese market.

"Chinese whipping cream is produced from milk from dairy cows commonly housed in feedlots," Wyeth said.

"The consistency of this feed creates milk with more consistent properties compared to our nutrient-dense, grass-fed product."