New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is to expand one of its largest domestic dairies with the construction of a NZ$212m (US$166m) milkpowder plant in Southland.

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According to reports, the new milk dryer will be at the company’s Edendale plant, 35km from Invercargill, and will manufacture regular UHT milk and instant wholemilk powders.


The expansion will reportedly take the site’s peak processing capacity to over 15m litres per day. This will make the milk dryer one of the largest powder plants in the world.


Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier told the New Zealand Press Association: “The investment is to handle expected growth in the South Island’s milk supply, forecast to rise significantly by the 2012/13 season. Growing the cooperative’s core business by sustainably, increasing its milk supply and expanding its processing capacity is key if we are to capitalise on strong market demand for our products.”


He said that though prices were softening from last year’s record highs, annual demand for dairy products was still growing at a rate of around 3%, with demand particularly strong in China, Latin America and the Middle East.

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According to reports, the site will create about 40 production jobs and is schedule to begin processing milk by the end of 2009.

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