New filling technology that allows UHT milk drinks fortified with fruit pieces to be rapidly filled in 250 ml cartons has presented the developer, SIG Combibloc, with a major contract in China.

The pioneer long-life product with strawberry, peach, coconut and aloe vera content is proving a sales hit throughout China, according to the marketers Mengiu Inner Mongolia Dairy Industry Ltd.
Now the German-based packaging firm and Mengiu are building a state-of-the-art filling plant in Shanxi province for additional production along with the company’s already well-known yogurt and drinking milk products. The new facility has seven carton filling lines and production rates of up to 12,000 units per hour per line.
The Shanxi complex is to join the 20 other plants the dairy has in 15 of China’s provinces. The company was only launched in 1999 as a purely regional producer for Inner Mongolia but has expanded rapidly since. Now, Mengiu is one of the largest dairies in the People’s Republic with a 2005 turnover equivalent to