SHIJIAZHUANG, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Northern China's Hebei Province, a major milk-producing area, has released a plan to upgrade its dairy industry, aiming to nearly triple its annual production of raw milk to 10 million tonnes by 2025.

The province will work to support the development of its dairy companies, optimize the structure of dairy industry and improve quality control and safety supervision, according to the plan.

The plan also said Hebei would encourage more dairy farmers to engage in milk processing.

Hebei recorded 1.15 million cows in stock and an output of 3.91 million tonnes of raw milk in 2018, both the third largest in China. It is home to 43 dairy processing companies which churned out 3.65 million tonnes of processed milk last year, the country's largest.

In last June, China unveiled guidelines to modernize its dairy industry, aiming to reach world-leading levels in milk supplies, dairy processing and quality, and industrial competitiveness by 2025.