increase font size
Demand for mini-dish butter is rising, says Fonterra.
Fonterra is pumping another $20 million into its Te Rapa site to produce more export cream cheese and mini-dish butter to meet rising demand.
Robert Spurway, chief operating officer global operations, says this rise shows the shift in food preferences in China and wider Asia.
“Much of the demand we’re seeing for mini-dish butter is from hotels, restaurants and commercial kitchens in China – all out-of-home eating places where consumers are choosing dairy.
“Many of these markets have in the past trended towards non-dairy creams and spreads; now we’re seeing a desire for natural dairy in food preparation and at the table.”
The foodservice aspects are important, the co-op says, but more interesting is consumers daily choosing more dairy.
Consumer and foodservice volumes in China grew 40% in the financial year to date versus the same period last year.
Recent butter imports have grown 20% annually -- from 17,000 tonnes in 2009 to 63,000t in 2016.
“Recently we’ve seen demand, particularly from China, exceed supply,” says Spurway. “So this expansion is in response to the market -- investing in capacity and delivering on our value-add strategy by converting more milk into higher-returning products.
“It will also give us more choices in the products we’re able to make so we can be more responsive to our customers.”
The expansions will see Te Rapa go from six cream product lines to eight, and butter production at least double from 250 million to 650m mini-dishes per year.
The additional cream cheese line will increase plant capacity from 30,000t to 33,500t per year, and add capability to make 5kg blocks in addition to the 20kg ones now produced.
The Te Rapa factory was built in 1967 for powder drying.
The cream plant was built in 1997 to make consumer and bulk butter and cream cheese. Another cream cheese line was added in 2013.
Te Rapa employs about 500 staff and makes 80,000 tonnes of cream products per year.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
OPINION: Farmer shareholders of two of New Zealand's largest co-operatives have an important decision to make this month and what they decide could change the landscape of the dairy and meat sectors in New Zealand.
OPINION: As CEO of the Dairy Board in the 1980s I was fortunate to work with a team of experienced and capable executives who made most of the brand investments that created the international consumer business Fonterra inherited. Soprole in Chile was the largest, but there were more than 20 countries where consumer marketing companies were established and Anchor and other brands were successfully launched.
Fonterra has delivered a fifth straight year of record organic milk price for farmer suppliers.
Fonterra says favourable weather conditions supporting pasture growth is boosting milk production.
Like many manufacturers around the world, European agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers are currently operating in a difficult market environment. But they are heading to the world’s largest agricultural machinery event in Hanover next month with a degree of cautious optimism.
Established in 2021, the John Deere Technician of the Year Awards champion the important contribution parts and service technicians make to the Australian and New Zealand agriculture, construction and forestry industries.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.
