Tuesday, 24 November 2020 14:00

Quiet offload

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Fonterra has quietly offloaded its 50% stake in Agrifeeds, a major importer of palm kernel expeller into New Zealand.

In an email to farmers, the co-operative revealed that it pocketed $27 million from the deal with JV partner Wilmar International.

Fonterra’s involvement in PKE importation has been on the receiving end of protests by environment lobbyists like Greenpeace, who claim PKE is a by-product of the palm oil industry, which is the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Indonesia.

Fonterra’s PR machine has been quiet on the sale and so has Greenpeace, who would be hoping that this could be the start of the end of PKE trading in NZ.

Fonterra hasn’t completely folded though and will still sell PKE through its Farm Source stores.

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