HOHHOT, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has seen its dairy industry continue to burgeon over the past three years, with milk output, the scale of its processing industry and its market share of dairy products all ranking first in China.

Milk production in the region increased from 5.43 million tonnes in 2017 to over 5.77 million tonnes in 2019, according to a press conference Tuesday. It is also the only provincial-level region in China with annual milk production exceeding 5 million tonnes.

"The dairy industry has become the most representative and competitive pillar industry in Inner Mongolia," said Liu Yaqing, vice president and secretary general of the Dairy Association of China.

Inner Mongolia is home to 86.7 million hectares of natural grassland and 2 million hectares of artificial grassland. This year, the region launched a campaign to develop its dairy industry and vows to offer no less than 50 billion yuan (about 7.6 billion U.S. dollars) of financing support to the dairy sector within three years.

"Inner Mongolia will continue to promote the development of the dairy industry and we have set the goal to increase the total number of dairy cows to 3 million by 2025. The output value of dairy processing enterprises is also expected to exceed 300 billion yuan by this date," said Li Bingrong, vice chairman of the region.