According to the Australian Financial Review, the company has also been issued with a Chinese government licence to take up to 4000 hectares of farmland in the northern Chinese province of Ningxia to help provide dairy products for its two processing plants.

Both of these plants are run in partnership with Chinese operators, the AFR says.

San Nong chief executive Geoff Kirten said the company has agreed to buy five farms located in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and is raising money to buy a further 15 properties.