Operations manager Terry Norwood declined to say how much milk the plant would require a year, but said it could operate on raw milk or skim milk powder.
Fonterra is the country’s biggest collector of milk and Open Country the second.
Privately-owned Open Country has processing plants at Waharoa in Waikato, Taranaki and Southland.
The Yashili plant, under construction at Pokeno’s new Gateway Business Park, is scheduled to start commissioning in November, with production set to start in late February next year.
Norwood said it was too early to say when infant formula would start being exported to China.
The plant, which will produce 52,000 tonnes a year of infant formula in cans and 25kg bags, will employ about 120 people.
The project will provide work for about 350 people at its peak. Norwood said most of the stainless steel plant was being sourced from Hamilton.
Fifty per cent of the steel framework on the plant’s 20,000m2 warehouse was up, and its roof was a third complete, while the main drier tower was 50% finished and concrete panel work was well under way, he said.
Yashili, formerly a family-owned company in China, was bought out last year by the state-owned Mengniu Dairy Company.
