New dairy plant going up

In a week that Fonterra, Westland, and Tatua all released financial results that were fully firm on expectations, it seems appropriate that a new processing company announces its plans.

While Fonterra's share of the market is huge it appears there is still room for smaller players to get a slice of the action in a very competitive market.

Milk this spring is flowing to abundance and Fonterra has reported that last years spring peak flush had already been surpassed three weeks early!

They also commented that some of the smaller companies with DIRA quota's are cancelling their allocations which seems ironic when they have been critical of Fonterra's monopolistic position.

It appears they only want the surplus milk when it suits them which hardly enhances their position.

The joint venture utilising the business skills of two companies, one in the south and one in the north, plans to sell milk powder products from milk collected in the South Otago region.

Construction has begun on a dairy processing plant in South Otago that will finish 20,000 tonnes of dairy nutritional products a year reports The ODT.

Gardians (Greenfields, Agricultural Research, Dairy Innovation and Nutritional Systems) is a joint venture between Dunedin-based dairy farmer Grant Paterson and Auckland-based food packaging group Sutton Group. In a statement yesterday, the company said resource consents had been obtained and construction was under way on a 4ha site near Balclutha.

It was on schedule to be fully operational by July next year.

A "top of the line" European spray drier would be used to finish the product, which would then be sent to Sutton Group for packaging. The venture enabled both families to realise the potential of a global market that had both the desire and the demand for a range of premium dairy nutritional products that had "absolute traceability", with guaranteed integrity through the dairy chain from "grass to glass".

It encapsulated the essence of "Brand New Zealand" and recognised the world was becoming a more discerning place, where both brands and consumers were demanding traceability of their end products, especially in ranges as sensitive as infant formula and early developmental nutritional products, Gardians spokeswoman Rachelle Sutton said.

The Paterson family has been a long-time player in the dairy industry as a major milk supplier, while Sutton Group has built a total nutritional solutions business serving the dairy and wider food and beverage industry.

A resource consent application, said it was proposing to establish a new milk powder processing plant on a dairy farm, near Clydevale.It would operate up to 24 hours a day during the peak of the season, from the end of September until the end of December. It would be shut down during the majority of June and July for the first few years of operation.