Fonterra opens milk powder plant in Pahiatua, New Zealand

In December, Fonterra officially opened a high-efficiency plant in Pahiatua, New Zealand. The plant manufactures milk powder destined for more than 20 markets worldwide. The plant came online in August and has already produced more than 30,000 metric tons of whole milk powder destined for key markets including Sri Lanka and Algeria. Central to the plant is a NZ$235 million high-efficiency dryer. See photo at top of page.

Fonterra’s Anchor Cream promotion looks for best cakes in China

Fonterra China Foodservices has partnered with the country’s biggest restaurant rating website, Dianping.com – a site with more than 180 million active users – to find the best cakes in China using Anchor Cream.

With Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year, along with a number of major festivals, all falling within the space of a few short months, winter is the peak season for cake consumption in China.

“China is a real growth market for UHT cream, so we’re pulling out all the stops to ensure when our customers order Anchor they’re getting the freshest cream. We’ve put a programme in place to get our cream to market faster and have managed to cut that lead time down to around 33 days from Waitoa to China,” said Operations Manager Russell Muir.

The campaign will run until Dec. 31 and a winner will be announced in January.

Rabobank says EU production growth dampens dairy's eventual recovery

The international bank Rabobank said international dairy commodity prices are stabilizing, but failing to show any real signs of recovery. On the demand side, it sees improved growth in the United States and the European Union.

Many emerging markets, however, are showing weakness in demand, according to the bank’s report. “Aggregate demand does appear to be expanding, but not enough to deal with recent supply volumes at anything more than bargain prices,” the report states.

In the fourth quarter, world dairy producers produced more milk than the market needed. The need to clear product to less-high-paying regions of the world kept prices “extremely” low. Clearing this surplus in the face of weak buying from China and Russia has required pushing product into lower-paying markets.

Chinese dairies sign contracts for milk, yogurt plants

SPX Flow Inc. said its food and beverage business unit has been awarded contracts worth approximately $30 million (combined) by two Chinese dairy companies in the fourth quarter of 2015. Siping Junlebao Dairy Co. will build a new milk processing plant in northern China to produce a variety of yogurts and milk-based beverages.

Work on the project will commence immediately and it is anticipated the new plant will begin operating in 2017, according to SPX Flow. The completed facility will feature an array of fluid handling components and process technologies including milk separators, homogenizers, agitators, vacuum mixing systems, valves, pumps and heat exchangers.

The other contract, awarded by an unidentified Chinese dairy, calls for SPX Flow to help expand capacity at existing milk processing plants to produce yogurts and milk-based beverages.

Arla’s global dairy strategy focuses on 8 foods, 6 markets

The board of directors of the European dairy cooperative Arla this month announced a five-year strategy to “create maximum value for the increased volume of milk.” The co-op’s strategy is called “Good Growth 2020.”

Arla identified eight product categories that will be the central focus for the company’s efforts to shape the dairy market. They are Butter and spreads; Spreadable Cheese; Speciality Cheese; Milk-based beverages; Yogurt; Milk and powder; Mozzarella; and Ingredients.

The company also said it will focus on six regions: Europe, the Middle East, China, Russia, Nigeria and the United States. See image at top of page for additional information.

FrieslandCampina honored in Asia for corporate citizenship

Global dairy company FrieslandCampina received the Gold Standard Award for Corporate Citizenship from PublicAffairsAsia for its advocacy campaign called “Drink.Move.BeStrong. ” (DMBS). DMBS supports the dairy’s business development initiatives in Southeast Asia and aims to bring about better nutrition and health outcomes among children in the region. See photo at top of page.

The award recognizes FrieslandCampina's commitment and contribution to improving the health and well-being of children in Southeast Asia where there is a rising trend of non-communicable diseases. The company's campaign currently runs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In just one year the campaign has reached out to 68 million stakeholders through multiple channels throughout all four markets in the region. The program is being expanded to reach a total of 1,000 schools in the region.

Outside of Southeast Asia, FrieslandCampina has impacted 100,000 children in Hong Kong through its school milk program since 2013, and has reached out to 48,000 students through several channels including school tour, nutrition talks, and distribution of nutrition kits.

FrieslandCampina has offices in 32 countries and its products are available in more than 100 countries. The company is owned by Zuivelcooperatie FrieslandCampina U.A, with over 19,000 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.