Open Country opens butter plant
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
The company, which recently accepted a A$1.37 billion takeover bid by Singapore-based Wilmar International and Hong Kong-listed investment firm First Pacific Co, is eyeing growth opportunities across Asia Pacific.
The expansion project will see the extension of the existing UHT building, installation of a new pasteurising, sterilising and palletising line as well as the installation of a new 250ml high speed filler. The work is expected to be completed by October 2015 and will boost production at the site by around 32 million litres per year, an increase of 50% on the plant's existing UHT volume.
Goodman Fielder chief executive, Chris Delaney says the project will enable the company to leverage its existing export capacity to Asia Pacific by meeting the growing demand for dairy products across the region and particularly in China.
"The premium UHT category in Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow by around 50% over the next five years," says Delaney.
"This project will provide us with additional capacity to address this growing market through our iconic New Zealand Meadow Fresh brand and distribution capability.
"We are seeing increasing demand for our Meadow Fresh products in Asia Pacific, particularly China, as we continue to build on New Zealand's natural, high quality dairy credentials. We are investing now to meet that demand and also plan for future growth.
"It is also very rewarding to be able to commit to a major investment at Meadow Fresh Christchurch given the impact that natural disasters have had on our site and our people over the last three years."
Prime Minister, John Key, attended today's announcement made to Goodman Fielder staff at the Blenheim Road site.
Construction of the new building and production line will require 40 full time equivalent roles for the eight month construction period, and the resulting increase in volume will eventually see 12 new production roles created at the site.
Goodman Fielder currently employees 230 people at the site which produces fresh milk for delivery throughout the South Island and UHT milk products predominantly for export markets.
