October 29, 2015

Fonterra's Anchor brand finds new markets in Ethiopia and Australia

Anchor, New Zealand's oldest dairy brand, has opened up new markets in Ethiopia and Australia.

Anchor Fortified Milk Drink is a milk powder specifically formulated to provide families in the emerging Ethiopian market with access to affordable high quality dairy nutrition. Across the Tasman, the new range of Anchor creams in Australia - Anchor Pure Cream; Anchor Thickened Cream; Anchor Light Thickened Cream - is aimed more to the country's culinary culture.

Fonterra's Global Brands and Nutrition Managing Director Rene Dedoncker says the ability to appeal in two very different markets shows the power of the Anchor brand.

"Whether it's a mature or emerging dairy market, Anchor has a place to play and our product innovations allow us to pick the market position where Anchor is most likely to succeed, get early momentum and make a difference in people's lives."

The launch in Ethiopia is an exciting opportunity with our first real move of a consumer brand perspective into Africa and gives us an opportunity for a future regional play. Ethiopia has the second largest population in Africa with close to 100 million people and the fastest growing economy in the world. However, despite the staggering economic growth more than 40% of its population are malnourished and lack access to affordable nutrition.

In Australia the chilled cream category is worth over $300 million but in recent years there has been a decline in the number of shoppers purchasing fresh cream. We believe there is a big opportunity to get cream back on the weekly shopping list by motivating foodies to buy cream all year round and packaging it in cook-friendly formats."