Fonterra accelerates growth in Australia on the back of strong demand

Fonterra Australia Managing Director René Dedoncker said the business was generating sustainable returns and was now looking to grow to meet higher demand for dairy.

“We have hit all of our performance targets, we have a clear strategy which is delivering and we have the right assets and product mix on the ground. We are now looking to build on that base with further expansion linked to growing customer demand for consumer dairy, foodservice products and dairy ingredients.

“With our plants full we will be accelerating our capital investments in regional Victoria and Tasmania, playing to our strengths in cheese, whey and nutritionals.”

Australia is Fonterra’s largest milk pool outside New Zealand and continues to grow, with milk volume growing to 2 billion litres from 1.6 billion last season, and a waiting list for new suppliers who would like to supply the company.

“Farmers are seeing us invest in capacity at Wynyard and Cobden and we have just completed the $140 million rebuild of our Stanhope cheese plant. We have added 75,000 metric tonnes of capacity in the last 18 months.”

René said Fonterra will continue to work with its Australian farmers to make the most of the global opportunities available in dairy.

“Along with our business, we’ve made significant progress with our farmers and we’ll continue that so that they can share the confidence that we have about the future opportunities.

“We are optimistic about export and domestic opportunities for growth and we bring the benefit of a global supply chain that’s integrated into our Australian milk pool. This ensures farmers here share in the benefit of the returns through a competitive and sustainable milk price,” concluded René.

The Fonterra Co-operative released its annual results today which can be found here.