September 30, 2013

Australia's dairy co-operative, Norco, which is owned by farmers in New South Wales and Queensland, is preparing to ship a trial batch of its fresh milk to China.

The co-op already exports ice cream products to Japan and North America and has been developing a market for its milk in Asia for the past 12 months.

Norco, who is now sorting through the quality assurance requirements, is hoping to send the batch within the next couple of weeks.

"We're probably about 80% there; in terms of everything that needs to be done on this side from farm, through processing, through to the port is all under control," Norco's chief executive officer, Brett Kelly said.