Fonterra to Open Canterbury Milk Processing Plant

AUKLAND, New ZealandFonterra announced it has taken options on land plans to build a new milk processing plant in central Canterbury, which it expects to be operating in September 2012. The development would be among the largest investments in manufacturing in New Zealand in the past five years and would cater for strong milk growth in the area in the future.

Canterbury is the fastest-growing dairying region in New Zealand. It is now producing about 15 percent of the countrys milk for export and growing at a rate of more than 5 per cent annually, said Fonterras Managing Director Trade and Operations Gary Romano. While its still early days, we expect the development would create more than 50 new permanent jobs, on top of the work the construction of the plant would provide for local businesses.

The options Fonterra is considering for the proposed site include a high-efficiency milk powder plantsimilar to the companys recently-opened drier at Edendale in Southland. It would employ the latest technology and is currently planned to have capacity to process up to 2.2 million liters of milk per dayequivalent to 200 farms in Canterbury. Other options include a production plant for high-value nutritional milk powders.