Another 40 million cartons of whipping cream will soon be rolling down the conveyors at Fonterra’s state-of-the-art Waitoa ultra heat temperature (UHT) facility every year, as the Co-operative keeps pace with growing demand.
Previously planned to come online in 2018, Fonterra brought forward the project to add another production line at the Waikato site, with work on the US$12 million build now set for completion in February 2017.
Director global foodservice Grant Watson said the acceleration of plans to supply China with more UHT is exciting for the business, given new builds in the foodservice space are typically demand-led.
“The fact we have needed to bring the project forward is a good sign of dairy’s growing popularity in China and points to the strength of our teams in market who are identifying that demand and converting it into sales,” he says.
Fonterra’s recent Annual Results showed total sales in its foodservice portfolio have increased exponentially, currently growing at a rate of 15% on last year.
CEO global operations Robert Spurway said the new line will be up and running by March next year and will bring the site’s total UHT capacity up to 112,000 packs per hour.
The new line will be at full capacity by April next year and will create 14 full time jobs at the site.
