increase font size
FONTERRA FARMERS are welcoming the co-op's infant formula joint venture in China.
Fonterra Shareholders Council chairman Ian Brown says the partnership with Beingmate is an important step to increasing access to the high value Chinese nutritional powders market and, in doing so, generating greater profit and returns for Fonterra Farmers.
"China is our number one market and demand for our products continues to grow there.
"Having recently visited the China market it's difficult to overstate the importance of having a local presence and with Beingmate's established networks and relationships this joint venture will enable us to move further towards consumer products that add margin over the value of milk.
"The announcements provide our co-op the opportunity to extract maximum value from every drop of milk we produce through the best use of our global assets."
Fonterra is teaming up with leading Chinese infant food manufacturer Beingmate intend to form a global partnership that will help meet China's growing demand for infant formula.
The partnership will create a fully integrated global supply chain from the farm gate direct to China's consumers, using Fonterra's milk pools and manufacturing sites in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe; the partnership is intended to increase the volume and value of Fonterra's ingredients and branded products exported to China.
It will be achieved in two phases: Fonterra will shortly start the process to issue a partial tender offer to gain up to a 20% stake in Beingmate; after gaining regulatory approvals and Fonterra satisfactorily completing the partial tender offer, Fonterra and Beingmate will set up a joint venture to purchase Fonterra's Darnum plant in Australia and will establish a distribution agreement to sell Fonterra's Anmum brand in China.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the partnership between two leading dairy nutrition companies will be a game changer that will provide a direct line into the infant formula market in China, which is the biggest growth story in paediatric nutrition in the world.
The partnership will also play a part in promoting leading product quality and safety standards in the infant formula market in China, participating in the ongoing development of the Chinese dairy industry, and supporting the development of Beingmate's business.
"By working together with Beingmate, we will strengthen our infant formula brand presence in China and link China to high quality ingredients from New Zealand, high value paediatric products made at Darnum in Australia, and whey specialty ingredients manufactured at our new plant in Heerenveen in the Netherlands and in alliance with Dairy Crest in the United Kingdom," says Spierings.
"We will also work with Beingmate to evaluate mutual investments in dairy farms in China."
OPINION: There is zero chance that someone who joined Fonterra as a lobbyist, then served as a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand, doesn't understand that local butter (and milk and cheese) prices are set by the international commodity price.
Kiwis love their butter, and that's great because New Zealand produces some of the best butter in the world. But when the price of butter goes up, it's tough for some, particularly when many other grocery staples have also gone up and the heat goes on co-operative Fonterra, the country's main butter maker. Here the co-op explains why butter prices are so high right now.
An A$2 billion bid for Fonterra's Oceania business would be great news, according to Forsyth Barr senior analyst, equities, Matt Montgomerie.
If you find a new consumer in a developed wine market, you are taking them from someone else, says Blank Canvas co-founder Sophie Parker-Thomson MW.
The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
DairyNZ has announced the date for its upcoming Milksolids Levy vote.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) says it is supporting importer Goodfood Group in its decision to recall Food Snob and Mon Ami brand French Brie and Camembert cheeses.
New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.
Applications are now open for the Agri Futures Scholarships, helping young Kiwis from rural backgrounds kickstart careers in agriculture and rural sports.
