Hohhot, capital city of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was named the "World Dairy Capital" at the 2026 World Dairy Industry Conference.
The two-day event, which concluded in the city on Sunday, brought together leaders of international industry associations, academicians, and senior executives from major global dairy chains to chart a course for sustainable development in the sector.
With abundant natural resources, Hohhot hosts the headquarters of two of the world's leading dairy companies, Yili Group and Mengniu Group. In 2025, the city's entire dairy industry chain saw revenues exceeding 300 billion yuan, or around 42 billion U.S. dollars.
"Hohhot has a great potential and it has vast natural resources. Actually this could be really the center of dairy production and not just production but innovation and really forefront of the world development, with the goal of the sustainability and carbon footprint and a number of other things that consumers and the world should be worried about. Hohhot, actually the dairy industry, has really taken a remarkable stride, so I think they deserve," said Pavinee Chinachoti, president-elect of the International Union of Food Science and Technology.
"It's my very first time to be here, but what I do really see is the grasslands, the greenery, the rains, which is really the part of the beginning of everything. It's about feeding of the cow and where the lush liquid milk comes from afterwards. The sector globally is facing a lot of challenges. At the same time, there's a lot of dynamism. Innovation, technology, always looking at the next science in moving it forward. When I look around how Yili and Mengniu are working in that field about innovation and technology, it's quite incredible," said Laurence Rychen, director general of International Dairy Federation.
Meanwhile, world-renowned dairy enterprises such as Fonterra and Tetra Pak have also made visits to the city to explore further cross-border cooperation opportunities.
"China's dairy industry has achieved remarkable progress. Today it is not only one of the world's largest dairy markets, but also an increasingly important source of innovation and leadership within the dairy sector. China has rising health and nutrition demands as well as a focus on sustainability targets to reduce carbon emissions, a high-quality grasp of dairy ties in with both of these priorities from a nutritional and a sustainability perspective," said Peter Mcbride, chairman of Fonterra.
North China's Hohhot named 'World Dairy Capital'
