TH Milk Joint Stock Company has imported an additional 1,500 dairy cows from New Zealand, raising its total flock to 4,600 heads to date.

The transaction is under the company's plan to import a total of 30,000 dairy cows by 2012, for its giant dairy project totalling US$1.2 billion in the central province of Nghe An.

Of the total value, the company has spent US$148 million on building a fresh milk processing plant with an annual capacity of 500 million litres in Nam Dan district.

The dairy plant, recognised as the largest in the Southeast Asia region, is scheduled to offer its first products in October.