September 27, 2024

 

Fonterra allocates $150 million for new cool store at Taranaki, New Zealand site

 

 

Fonterra on September 18 announced a further investment in its operations with around $150 million earmarked for a new cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki, New Zealand.

 

The announcement follows the recent news of a new protein plant at the co-operative's Studholme site and a new UHT cream plant at Edendale in the South Island. 

 

Fonterra chief executive officer Miles Hurrell said these investments are about creating value at every point of the value chain for the co-operative.  

 

"Over the past few weeks, Fonterra has announced significant strategic investments to expand and upgrade its operations. Our strong balance sheet is enabling us to invest for future growth and support ongoing delivery of our strategy," said Hurrell. "These investments enable us to keep growing our Ingredients and Foodservice businesses as we look to prioritise these channels to create more value for the co-op."

 

The cool store will be the size of three rugby fields (19,000m2), stores around 26,000 tonnes of cheese, and increases the site's cool store capacity by around 5,000 tonnes. 

 

Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet said these are big investments, which will have a significant impact on the co-operative. 

 

"As is always the case when making investment decisions, we carefully consider where to allocate capital to maximise value to farmer shareholders and unit holders over the long-term," Palairet said.             

 

The cool store is strategically important, she added, as it will play a crucial role in the resilence of the co-operative's supply chain.

 

"Our Whareroa site processes up to 12.5 million litres of milk per day and produces 30% of the co-op's cheese, along with a number of other products including butter, casein, and powders.

 

"The Taranaki region is dairy heartland and I'm delighted we're able to make this significant investment into shoring up our operations at this site, which is one of the largest in our network.” 

 

Construction of the cool store will begin in October and will take place over two phases to enable the existing building to remain operational. 

 

The expansion is expected to create local employment opportunities and is forecast to take three years to complete. 

Established in 1972, the Whareroa site processes up to 12.5 million litres of milk per day and produces a fifth of Fonterra's New Zealand production. It employs more than 1,000 people and has 11 plants, producing mozzarella, dry salt cheese, butter, whole milk powder, skim milk powder, milk protein concentrate, butter milk powder, anhydrous milk fat, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, and lactic casein.

 

- Fonterra