Fonterra opens a site at Heerenveen in the Netherlands, featuring a partnership with Dutch cheese manufacturer Royal A-ware works.
The 25-hectare site offers Fonterra cost-effective, reliable and continual access to high-quality whey and lactose, to use in manufacturing high-value pediatric, maternal and sports nutrition products.
“We have substantial intellectual property in manufacturing functional whey protein ingredients, and having a high-quality, high-volume source based in Europe will allow us to commercialize these innovations for our customers all over the world,” says Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings.
Heerenveen consists of two plants: A-ware’s plant produces cheese for its customers in Europe, while Fonterra’s plant processes the whey and lactose from A-ware’s plant, as by-products of the cheese-making process.
It is Fonterra’s first wholly owned and operated ingredients plant in Europe, processing one billion liters of milk, 5,000 mt of whey protein and 25,000 mt of lactose annually.
The partnership increases Fonterra’s ability to access a globally traded whey protein and lactose market that was worth more than NZ$2.7 billion (US$1.82 billion) in 2014.
