The delegation of Yili executives, which was headed by Pan Gang, the company's chairman, arrived in Europe on June 8 for what it has called an "investigation and exchange trip."
It visited Unilever, FrieslandCampina, Rabobank, DSM, Philips, the Holland Research and Development Center, and Wageningen University, where it established a European R&D centre last year.
The "benchmarking tour" was designed for "further learning and exchanging on innovation, corporate culture, precision management and food safety," Hohhot-based Yili said in a statement.
"The international exchange event is a significant step for Yili," it said.
"In recent years, Yili has firmly clinched key sectors of international dairy R&D, integrated its overseas and domestic R&D resources, and laid a globalized innovation network covering leading R&D institutions worldwide from a globalized view."
Earlier this month, Yili - which is among the world's 20 largest dairy processors - also exhibited in the China Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 in Italy.
“In the field of dairy industry, Yili, which represents the highest level of development of the Asian dairy firms, contributed a forward-looking concept to the sustainable development of [the] global dairy industry, as well as provided [sic] feasible and innovative solutions," a statement read.