November 7, 2007

Fonterra-Sanlu joint China project to start operation in 2008

The joint-venture project by New Zealand's Fonterra and China's Sanlu Group, will begin milk production in 2008. The farm, located in Tangshan, Hebei province will be managed by Shijiazhuang Sanlu Company, which was set up by the Sanlu Group and Fonterra in December 2005.

Fonterra's CEO Andrew Ferrier said on Monday (Nov 5) that the farm will yield 20-24 million tonnes of milk annually. Ferrier added that 3,000 heads of New Zealand dairy cattle had recently arrived at the farm and milk production is expected to begin in the next 6 weeks.

Milk produced at the farm will be used to manufacture milk powder at Sanlu's production plant in the Tangshan region.

RMB1=US$0.1341 (Nov 7)