China to build giant dairy farm to supply Russia

China has started to build a joint Chinese-Russian livestock agricultural complex. A hundred thousand cows are planned to be bred in a project costing one billion Yuan.

The farm is being set up in the Chinese city of Mudanjiang with production supplied to the Russian market, Zhang Chuntszyao, chairman of the Association of Applied Economics of the Heilongjiang Province told Interfax on Monday.

READ MORE: Medvedev signs food embargo extension until August 2016

China’s Zhongding Dairy Farming and Russia’s Severny Bur are participating in the project. Feed for the cattle will be grown on 100,000 hectares of land in China and Russia.

Earlier this month, China’s Huae Sinban Company inked an agreement to lease 115,000 hectares of land in Russia’s Transbaikal region for agriculture. The company is expected to invest some $450 million into the project over the next 50 years. The deal has caused much discussion in Russia over its legacy and necessity. Huae Sinban plans to lease up to 200,000 hectares in Russia should the first stage of the project in 2015-2018 prove to be a success.

Last week Russia prolonged its ban on imports of various foods from the EU, US, Australia, Norway and Canada, including milk and milk products, till August 2016. This was in reaction to the EU extending its economic sanctions against Russia for another six months and against Crimea for another year.