6 May, 2008 – Asahi Breweries is to establish an integrated milk operation in the Chinese province of Shangdong.
Asahi will be the first major Japanese company to build such a plant in China. The facility is under construction in the city of Laiyang as part of a joint venture with Itochu Corp, which has a 10% share of the business.
The operation is fully integrated and Asahi will oversee the everything from rearing dairy cows to packaging a marketing of the final product for sale initially in Qingdao, Beijing and Shanghai.
The plant has a production target of one tonne of milk per day for the first year and its retail price is expected to be between 50 and 100% higher than local competitors. The first products are scheduled to be on sale before the start of the Olympic Games in August.