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Yili Group subsidiary Westland Milk Products has opened its upgraded butter plant in Hokitika, making it the "largest" butter facility on the west coast of New Zealand. Westland Milk's new facility has doubled the capacity of its consumer and food service offerings to reach up to 42,000 tonnes a year. The upgrade was initially announced in March last year, with a total investment of NZD 40 million (approx. $27.8 million) to increase the company's butter production capacity. The project aims to provide global consumers with a taste for Westgold, one of Westland Milk's butter brands, which is available across the US, New Zealand, China, Australia and Japan. Richard Wyeth, Westland Milk's CEO, said: "The original butter plant built in 1973 has now made way for a purpose-built facility that allows us to double our capacity of small-format butter pats with modern, state-of-the-art machinery that still holds true to our traditional churn methods".