Inner Mongolia, December 1, 2025 (NA) — Latin America, and specifically Argentina, are on the radar of a dairy giant born in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, which became the global leader in the dairy industry in 2018 and sponsored Argentina's captain Lionel Messi at the World Cup in Russia. Mengniu Dairy Company Limited imports products from the region, works with distributors, and buys specific ingredients. For exporters of milk powder, dairy proteins, or whey, it is a potential but extremely demanding buyer: full traceability, environmental certifications, stable quality, and regular delivery are indispensable conditions for starting any negotiation. Having started as a provincial firm in the late '90s, in 25 years it has transformed into a private multinational listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that operates 45 plants in China, plus factories in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where it processes almost 14 billion liters of milk annually. According to what was confirmed to the Argentine News Agency, it employs more than 38,800 people and processes a colossal figure: 13.95 million tons of products per year, including liquid milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, powdered milk, and infant formulas.
An eye on the south Argentina's milk production is estimated at around 30 million liters per day. More than 60% of this volume is processed by 15 large, multi-plant, multi-product companies with great processing capacity and world-class technology. Although the Canadian Saputo is first in the national dairy ranking, Mastellone Hnos (La Serenísima) remains the country's real number one. The sector is in full reorganization. There have been two recent bankruptcies: La Suipachense and Alimentos Refrigerados SA (ARSA), manufacturer of the classic desserts and yogurts SanCor. Precisely, the enormous dairy cooperative, with its headquarters in the Santa Fe town of Sunchales and also covering Córdoba province, is debating between rescue plans and judicial intervention, with international investors closely following its steps.
The Mongolian holding The Mongolian holding is one of them: it has more than 38,800 employees and processes a colossal figure: 13.95 million tons of products annually, including liquid milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, powdered milk, and infant formulas. Its profile was published by Bichos de Campoy and reveals shocking data. In 2024, it billed 88.675 billion renminbi (RMB), China's official currency, which translates to about 12.4 billion dollars at the current exchange rate. In turn, in the first half of 2025, it added RMB 41.567 billion (5.84 billion dollars), with a gross margin of 41.7%, a high level for the dairy industry. Its core global business is represented by long-life milk, which accounts for more than two-thirds of its revenue. Its brand Aicees is the absolute leader in yogurt and ice cream sold in Indonesia; followed by cheese, a young segment in China but with rapid growth, and infant formulas, a very sensitive and regulated business. For its premium lines and infant formulas, Mengniu uses milk and ingredients imported from Australia and New Zealand, markets associated with higher standards.
With milk always at the center of the business, it applied two new levers called 'One Core – Two Wings'. One is advanced nutrition, which combines biotechnology, molecules inspired by breast milk, premium formulas, and functional foods. It is a business where the value lies in scientific development, not in volume. The second is international expansion: more markets, more plants outside of China, more own brands, and less dependence on the domestic consumer. In Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, Mengniu is already playing as a local with ice cream and dairy drinks, while Australia and New Zealand support the formula and export business.
The large Chinese dairy farms are the main suppliers of the raw material that Mengniu buys and are integrated through contracts, technical assistance, and traceability systems. This is how it reorganized itself from 2008, in the framework of the most serious food scandal in its history: it was when it was detected that several manufacturers had adulterated milk and infant formulas with melamine, a substance that fooled protein analysis and is toxic. Thousands of babies were affected, and a crisis of confidence that completely shook the sector. Although Mengniu was not the company that originated the fraud, it was also involved in the earthquake because it went through the chain of dairy farms supplying several dairy companies. From that episode, the industry practically had to rearm itself from scratch: farms were closed, production was reorganized, daily verifications were implemented, and traceability systems that follow the milk from the cow to the package were established. Currently, it works with plants certified as 'green', water efficiency programs, emission reduction, circular economy, and commitments against deforestation in imported inputs. These policies not only respond to environmental objectives: they are indispensable requirements to enter global chains where traceability is as important as quality.
