Apart from the Arla brand bring introduced in China, Arla has entered into cooperation with the China Mengniu Dairy Company, which the Danish dairy expects to increase its revenues in China fivefold by 2016 to DKK 3.5 billon.

“These agreements will increase our export to China significantly over the coming years. It will contribute positively to our cooperative owners’ milk price from day one, as we are able to add more value to milk that we, otherwise, would have to sell on the global bulk trading market where the profit is lower historically,” Arla CEO Peder Tuborgh says in a statement.

Arla says that with a growth at of some 10 per cent, the Chinese market is expected to surpass the United States as the world’ biggest market for dairy products.

Arla will be investing some DKK 1.7 billion in Mengniu and hold approximately a six per cent interest in the group.

Arla was just one of the agreements to be signed this afternoon at a Copenhagen trade conference in connection with the Chinese state visit to Denmark by President Hu Jintao.

The conference, attended among others by Crown Prince Frederik, China’s Deputy Premier Wang Qishan and Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager also saw agreements being signed by APM Terminals to build a harbour terminal in China, and Carlsberg to build a vast new brewery in Yunnan Province.

Danfoss and COWI are to sign an agreement to provide a district heating system for the Chinese city of Anshan in the northeastern Liaoning Provinceand Danish Crown were also to enter into a major export agreement with the Shineway Industry Group – China’s biggest meat processor.

At the same time China’s IT company Jiangsu Comc was to sign an agreement to open its European headquarters in Denmark, while the aigo Entrepreneur Alliance was to open an office for Chinese companies wanting to establish in Denmark. The aigo group is an alliance of more than 100 Chinese companies.

Earlier this week Vestas announced it had sold its tower factory in Varde to China’s Titan Wind Energy, while the Chinese controlled London Mining Greenland announced it had applied for permission to build a harbour, 130km road and open mining facility in Greenland using some 2,000 Chinese workers.

While businessmen were hard at work forging new cooperation, the presidential couple were on a sightseeing tour of Copenhagen aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog, leaving the vessel to visit the Little Mermaid and returning to their hotel prior to this evening’s state banquet.

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