The Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) plans to invest in a milk factory in the US, according to the company's chairwoman Mai Kieu Lien.

The decision follows a recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Vinamilk to export products to the US, said Lien, who described this as a potential market for the dairy giant.

This comes as Vinamilk looks to invest in milk factories abroad, including in countries such as New Zealand, which is expected to become operational by September 2014. The products will be labelled under the trade name of Vinamilk.

"Vinamilk aimed to develop production capabilities in countries which have comparative advantages in breeding dairy cows, such as the United States and European countries," Lien said.

The company also plans to increase the domestic procurement rate from the current 30 percent by 10 percent.

To date, it has managed five breeding farms with a total output of 90 tonnes of milk per day, and signed contracts with 5,000 cow raisers to lift output to around 460 tonnes per day.

Vinamilk is striving to become one of the world's top 50 milk producers with a turnover of 3 billion USD by 2017.-VNA