Milk cows imported from Australia were transported to Vinamilk's farms in Thanh Hoa Province. — Photo Courtesy of Vinamilk

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Co. (Vinamilk) has received 400 out of a total of 1,000 dairy cows it plans to import from Australia this month.

It will import a further 2,000 cows - 400 from Australia and 1,600 from the US - this year to increase its milk production to 50 million litres a year.

It will continue importing cows to increase its herd from the current 90,000 to 150,000 by 2017 and 200,000 by 2020.

Vinamilk is sinking a lot of money into developing its own dairy farms in what is a key long-term strategy to reduce dependence on milk imports amid global price volatility.

As of April Vinamilk has nine dairy farms in Tuyen Quang, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Binh Dinh, and Lam Dong.

Every day the farms and farmers around the country provide the company 650 tonnes of fresh milk for processing.

This is expected to increase to 1,500 tonnes by 2020. — VNS