China Modern Dairy expects big 2015 for brand products: CEO

China Modern Dairy Holdings, the nation's largest dairy farm operator as measured by raw milk output, plans to further the sales of its own-brand dairy products in 2015, the company's CEO said over the weekend.

Sales revenues of dairy products under the company's proprietary brand are expected to hit 1.2 billion yuan ($195.19 million) in 2015, double this year's target of about 600 million yuan, Gao Lina, executive director and CEO of the Hong Kong-listed company, told the Global Times on Saturday.

In the first half of 2014, China Modern Dairy posted a surge of 240.6 percent year-on-year in net profits of 523 million yuan, driven by robust sales of both raw milk and its branded liquid milk products, according to the company's first-half financial disclosure released in late August.

Its raw milk sales saw an increase of 77.1 percent year-on-year to 2.25 billion yuan during the first half, while its sales of own-brand liquid milk products soared 143.2 percent to 285 million yuan.

Despite an upbeat vision for the firm's branded milk product lineup, the supply of raw milk will maintain its position as the firm's core business, noted Gao.

Currently, China Modern Dairy is the top raw milk supplier for China Mengniu Dairy Co, a major Chinese dairy maker. Mengniu, after acquiring the majority of the stake owned by US private equity firm KKR & Co LP in the farm operator in May 2013, has become China Modern Dairy's single largest shareholder.

As for her company's expansion of its sales distribution network to pitch its branded products, Gao disclosed that only distributors exclusively serving the company are chosen, posing no challenge to the company's partnership with Mengniu.

In response to a request for comment on KKR & Co's unloading of its final stake in China Modern Dairy that was confirmed earlier in September, Gao said that it was a normal transaction by financial investors.