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 co-op today confirmed that it has achieved record sales and revenues from its two August GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) auctions.
Fonterra achieved its highest-ever monthly revenue through GDT in August, selling 109,664 metric tonnes, worth $685 million.
Chief executive, Theo Spierings,says the past two GDT events show continued confidence in its products and strong demand from many of the key markets.
"Our August GDT sales volume was up 27% on the same time last year, and revenue more than doubled, up 107%."
The co-op is facing a government inquiry over its handling of the recent botulism scare involving whey protein concentrate (WPC80). It is also facing trade bans in several key markets around the world, including China.
Commenting on Fonterra's current forecast for a 15% decline in its product volumes on GDT over the next 12 months, Spierings says that this reflects Fonterra's strategy of moving from being commodities-driven to a more value-added, higher-margin products business.
