China's Yili Group has put an investment of more than 3 billion renminbi (US$489.82 million) to the Yili Oceania Production Base, the project covering packaging, production, processing and R&D is the world's largest integrated dairy production base. It is located in Waimate, South Island, New Zealand.

Investments are made up of a 1.2 billion renminbi previous investment and the new infusion of 2 billion renminbi.

The new investment will be used in four parts, including a raw milk deep-processing project, a UHT liquid milk project, a milk powder production facility and a packaging facility. The raw milk deep-processing project and the UHT liquid milk project, with an investment of 200 million renminbi and nearly 500 million renminbi respectively, will become the largest and highest in technology of its kind in New Zealand .

The Yili Group and New Zealand's Lincoln University also signed an agreement on scientific cooperation across the whole dairy industry chain. According to the agreement, the two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation based on their unique resources and technological advantages, focusing on the strategy of whole dairy industry chain. The first step is to focus on innovative technologies for improving nutrition and quality assurance in dairy products in the coming years. Lincoln University, with a history of 136 years, is the only one specialized in agriculture and food sciences in the southern hemisphere and a world-class research institution in the fields.