Synlait's back
OPINION: After years of financial turmoil, Canterbury milk processor Synlait is now back in business.
SYNLAIT MILK is to spend $15 million on upgrading its special milks drier at Dunsandel to further tap the $15 billion a year demand for infant formula in China.
The upgrade, expected to finish early 2014, will make Synlait one of only two processors in the world to make lactoferrin spray dried powder. It will also allow dairy ingredients manufacturing to a pharmaceutical standard.
Lactoferrin is a protein that offers antibacterial protection and other health benefits. It is in demand globally for health foods including infant formula and adult nutritional powders. Synlait expects its production to reach 18 metric tonnes within four years of commissioning.
Chief executive John Penno says Synlait’s lactoferrin move results from its having eight customers for infant formula including YinQiao Xi’An (the largest dairy processor in north western China), Synlait’s cornerstone shareholder Bright Dairy and A2 Corporation, which will soon launch is own a2 infant formula in China.
“There is a global shortage of lactoferrin driven largely by the demand for infant formula. In China alone total sales of infant formula are worth US$15 billion plus a year and growing by 15% with the addition of 18-20 million new babies annually.”
Typically, lactoferrin from New Zealand and Australia is freeze dried and milled. This can result in particles difficult to dissolve, leaving residues when the mother mixes formula in the baby feeding bottle.
The market for lactoferrin has grown from 45,000kg in 2001 to 185,000kg in 2012 and is projected to grow to 262,000kg in 2017. Lactoferrin now fetches US$500-1000/kg.
“Lactoferrin will add to our range of specialised health and nutritional products, a category identified recently as one of the main contributors to the Government’s target of doubling the value of New Zealand’s export earnings by 2025. To reach that target New Zealand must make more from milk,” Penno says.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.
OPINION: A last-minute compromise ensured that the election of the new Federated Farmers national dairy chair wasn't a repeat of…
OPINION: Just as it's healthy for cockies to get out of the shed and off the farm occasionally to get…