Thursday, 12 September 2013 16:11

Fonterra eyes Aussie farms

Written by 

FONTERRA MAY soon own its first dairy farms in Australia. The Australian newspaper reports Fonterra is teaming up with state-owned China Investment Corporation to buy Van Diemen's Land (VDL), Tasmania, in whole or in part.

 

VDL, owned by the New Plymouth District Council’s investment company, controls 25 dairy farms and 30,000 dairy stock in northwest Tasmania. Founded in 1825, VDL is one of Australia's oldest companies.

A Fonterra spokesman told Rural News it “never comments on whether or not it is involved in these types of matters”.

Owning dairy farms in Australia will help Fonterra’s strategy to its boost its global milk supply pool. The co-op processes 1.7 billion litres of milk in Australia annually. However, strong competition for raw milk means Fonterra’s supply base has not kept pace.

VDL already supplies milk to Fonterra and owning the farms will allow the co-op to boost cow numbers and production.

 Fonterra operates 10 factories in Australia but its consumer brands business has been struggling. The co-op is reducing its product range to try to rein in costs. Teaming up with China Investment will give potential to produce milk specifically for the Chinese market.

The purchase is expected to cost Fonterra and China Investment $A200m. No comment could be obtained from VDL chief executive Michael Guerin.

More like this

Fonterra R&D: Innovation needs more than just PhDs

Common sense and good human judgement are still a key requirement for the super highly qualified staff working at one of New Zealand's largest and most important research facilities - Fonterra's R&D Centre at Palmerston North.

Misguided campaign

OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Overbearing?

OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter