Lion Dairy, owned by Japanese brewer Kirin, is now getting the attention of listed Australian processor Bega Cheese.
Fonterra, which has a sizeable business across the ditch, hasn’t put its hand up for the business yet.
The thwarted sale process is another twist in the worsening trade relations between Beijing and Canberra – an escalating diplomatic ‘cold war’ that went into overdrive when Australia joined calls for an independent inquiry into the origin of Covid-19, thought by many to originate in Wuhan, China.