Fonterra’s Edendale site in Southland is having a new $150 million UHT cream plant. The new plant will manufacture UHT whipping cream, which is used in approximately 260 million cakes and 400 million beverages annually in Chinese bakery stores.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said the new UHT cream plant will help meet growing demand through its food service business.
“Demand for UHT cream continues to strengthen. Globally, we’re expecting demand to increase by more than 4% year on year between 2023 – 2032,” he stated.
Fonterra enjoyed a successful food-service business in Asia, driven by increasing demand as dairy was incorporated into traditional products like laksa and milk tea. In Malaysia, Fonterra aims to build on a strong foundation, with half of New Zealand’s exports to the country already consisting of dairy products.
Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet said, “The great thing about Edendale is it’s surrounded by all this great farmers’ produce and beautiful milk in Southland.
“This opportunity is to be able to take that milk from a more commoditised product and… turn it into a high-value UHT cream, which can then go on and add real value for our farmers.”
The new plant is expected to commence in the new year and will initially create an initial UHT processing capacity of over 50 million litres with the potential to expand beyond 100 million litres by 2030.
Fonterra’s Edendale facility presently has over 670 employees, and the launch of the new cream plant is expected to create an additional 70 jobs.
The news about the Edendale cream plant follows another recent announcement where Fonterra revealed a $75 million investment to expand its Studholme dairy site. It will become a hub for producing high-value proteins, which are designed for premium applications such as medical and sports nutrition products.
The construction is set to begin next month.