Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd (Yili Group), headquartered in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is the top dairy enterprise in China and the largest in Asia.

Since its foundation, Yili has kept growing and expanding with its solid foundation and persistent pursuit of quality.

It has maintained high-speed growth and set innumerable records in the industry during the past ten years.

In the first nine months of 2018, the firm reported revenues of nearly 61.33 billion yuan ($8.80 billion), with a net profit of 5.06 billion yuan, making it the top earner in the Chinese dairy industry.

An old photo shows researchers work at the laboratory of Yili Group. [Photo/ Yili Group]

Its predecessor, a dairy cow-raising cooperative, was set up in Hohhot's Huimin district in 1956. The cooperative developed into a dairy farm in 1970. In 1993, Yili Group was founded and went public three years later, becoming the first A-share listed enterprise in China's dairy industry.

A photo shows the logistics and distribution area of Yili Group in earlier years. [Photo/ Yili Group]

Yili Group was the first company to have a production line of liquid milk in China. The move has helped the milk produced in Inner Mongolia to be sold to far-flung areas in China, and drive the dairy industry's growth in the country.

It has a history partnering with the Olympic Games and Paralympics. It was an official sponsor of Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. In 2017, the dairy maker was named the dairy products supplier of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, making it become the only food enterprise in China to supply both the summer and winter Olympic Games.

Since its establishment, Yili has given high priorities to internationalization and innovation, with quality and corporate social responsibility being at the core of its business.

Its famous "three-lined" quality control ensures it provides high-quality milk products for consumers worldwide. With a continuous emphasis on developing innovative technologies for the development of its products and conducting groundbreaking research, as well as employing outstanding, highly skilled workers, the company is able to undergo a sustainable development of global industrial chains. Over the years, it has also been actively undertaking greater social responsibilities and engaged in in-depth benchmarking of the United Nations' sustainable development goals. During the Third Summit for China Corporate Responsibility Brand on June 26, 2018, Yili Group was included on the list of the Top 50 Chinese Corporate Citizen Responsibility Brands.

Under the guidance of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, Yili has continued to push forward its strategy of "building global networks". It strives to carry out cooperation in innovation, resources and marketing throughout its whole industrial chain by establishing a worldwide network that includes presences in Asia, Australia, Europe, America and Oceania.