Camperdown Dairy International (CDI) has signed a 15-year deal worth $600 million per annum to ship infant formula to China in what is one of the biggest Sino-Australian deals since a free trade agreement was signed last month.

The fledgling dairy company overcame its final hurdle to secure Chinese accreditation last week for its tinned formula with the first batch of produce set to be exported to China within six weeks.

Thousands of hectares have been purchased by the company in the Mount Gambier region with the company’s milk processing plant based at Camperdown’s old Bonlac site.

CDI chief executive Phil McFarlane said Chinese assent last week was a watershed moment for the company. He said the seal of approval meant further construction on the Camperdown site would start in the next 12 to 18 months.

“Obviously it comes shortly after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signing but it is something we’ve been working on for more than 12 months,” Mr McFarlane said.

“It’s a rigorous process and rightly so. It’s hard to be specific at this point in time regarding jobs, both ongoing and in construction, but it will certainly be more than 100 (employees) once we’re fully operational.”

The FTA has made dairy produce more attractive to Chinese customers with an estimated 20 per cent tariff reduction on Australian-made infant formula.

Great Wall Capital Trading helped broker the deal with its director Damien Weis anticipating ballooning demand for Camperdown produce over the coming decade.