China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited () is a Chinese manufacturing and distribution company of

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items i ...

s and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

. The company is headquartered in

Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrative, economic and cultural center.''The N ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

and manufactures dairy products under the ''Mengniu'' brand. In July 2009, Mengniu sold a 20% stake to a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources ...

led by the state-owned COFCO Group, China's largest importer and exporter of food. That sale made the state the largest

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal o ...

. Mengniu's main competitor in China is the Yili Group.

Products

Mengniu's products include liquid

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...

products, such as ultra heat treated (

UHT Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), ultra-heat treatment, or ultra-pasteurization is a food processing technology that sterilizes liquid food by heating it above – the temperature required to kill bacterial endospores – for 2 t ...

) milk,

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

and milk beverages,

and other dairy products, such as

powdered milk Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...

and milk tablets. During the year that ended 31 December 2015, the company operated 33 production bases with an aggregate annual production capacity of 8.68 million tons. China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited's operates in three segments: the liquid milk products segment, which manufactures and distributes processed UHT milk, milk beverages and yogurt; the ice cream products segment, which manufactures and distributes ice cream products, and the other dairy products segment, which manufactures and distributes processed milk powder and milk tablets products. The name Mengniu literally means 'Mongolian cow'.

History

The owner and founder of Mengniu is Niu Gensheng, a former employee of Yili, another Inner Mongolian dairy giant which is now Mengniu's largest competitor. He founded the company in 1999, and the company's textbook growth has swept the country by storm. In 2002,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, CDH Investments and China Capital Partners signed agreement with Mengniu to invest US$26m for a total share of 32% in the company. Mengniu then went on to be listed on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...

(SEHK) in June 2004.

Advertising

The company is a leading manufacturer of

and other dairy products in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

, partly due to its high-profile advertising campaigns. One such campaign advertised ''"special milk for China's

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s"'' after the successful launches of the

Shenzhou 5 Shenzhou 5 (, see § Etymology) was the first human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program, launched on 15 October 2003. The Shenzhou spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F launch vehicle. There had been four previous flig ...

and

Shenzhou 6 Shenzhou 6 () was the second human spaceflight of the Chinese space program, launched on October 12, 2005 on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Shenzhou spacecraft carried a crew of Fèi Jùnlóng (费俊龙) ...

spacecraft(in fact the company sponsors the Chinese space program), and Mengniu also sponsored the popular ''

SuperGirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

'' contest. ''SuperGirl''

Zhang Hanyun Zhang Hanyun (born 9 April 1989), also known as Baby Zhang or Kristy Zhang, is a Chinese singer and actress. At the age of 16, Kristy rose to fame as a runner-up of the singing contest Super Girl 2004. Early life Zhang was born and raised in D ...

(aka ''Baby Zhang'') became associated with ''Mengnius brand, appearing in Mengniu's commercials, which became instrumental in her elevation to fame. In

marketing campaign Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

s, it also uses the slogan "中國牛世界牛蒙牛", which metaphorically means "Mengniu will be outstanding in Inner Mongolia, be outstanding in China and world". The company has now become a symbol of entrepreneurship in China. Mengniu has also sponsored the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

and

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...

2008 Chinese milk scandal

Mengniu was among those named for having powdered milk samples which tested positive for melamine. The company recalled tainted powdered milks and apologised to the public.Lee Spears
"China Revokes `Inspection-Free' Right as Milk Scandal Spreads"
, Bloomberg (18 September 2008) Trading in Mengniu shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended on 17 September. Shares in other dairy companies fell strongly the next day.''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

'', "Investors dump financials and dairy producers", ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' (18 September 2008) On discovery that their liquid milk was also contaminated, Mengniu was stripped of its status as 'Chinese national brands'. Mengniu, whose products tested negative in Hong Kong government tests, was immediately de-listed by supermarket chains after tests showed that contaminated samples had been found on the mainland.Paggie Leung & Mary Ann Benitez, "HK store chains strip shelves of Mengniu goods", Page A2, ''

'' (20 September 2008) Mengniu's CFO attempted to reassure consumers by offering a no-quibble refund on all products, and by drinking liquid milk in front of reporters. He also said that its export products were less likely to be contaminated. This comment spurred accusations on Internet bulletin boards that the company's preferential export policies was because it thought Chinese lives were cheaper than foreigners'.Jasmine Wang, "Export milk less likely to be tainted, says mainland firm", Page A2, ''South China Morning Post'' (20 September 2008) On 17 September 2008, Hong Kong Stock Exchange suspended trading in shares of China Mengniu Dairy Co. Ltd. In 2011 Mengniu Dairy stated that moldy cattle feed led to excessive toxin levels in its milk.

Mengniu Arla

In 2006, China Mengniu Co. Ltd teamed up with

Arla Foods , industry = Dairy , predecessor = ArlaMD Foods , founded = , founder = , location_city = Viby , location_country = Denmark , area_served = Worldwide , key_people = Peder Tub ...

, the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia, to produce and distribute solid milk products in China, including Hong Kong and Macau. The Chinese dairy products maker said it would hold 50 percent of the venture, while

Arla Foods , industry = Dairy , predecessor = ArlaMD Foods , founded = , founder = , location_city = Viby , location_country = Denmark , area_served = Worldwide , key_people = Peder Tub ...

would own 48 percent. The joint venture company was named Mengniu Arla. After the company's products tasted positive for melamine, CEO Peder Tuborgh, Arla Foods, said: "The situation is extremely distressing for all the families who need milk of the highest quality to feed their children. It is extremely important that we get to the bottom of the problem so that consumers' safety can be guaranteed and confidence in the Chinese dairy industry maintained, together with Mengniu and the authorities, we're doing everything we can to safeguard quality."

References

External links

*
China Mengniu Dairy Co Limited's official website.

China Mengniu Dairy Co Limited's official website.
{{authority control Arla Foods Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Dairy products companies of China Chinese brands Government-owned companies of China Companies based in Hohhot 2008 Chinese milk scandal