Source: Radio New Zealand
Anchor Food whipping cream Global Anchor Food Professionals Brand Team
A growing middle class enjoying products like cakes and iced-teas in China is seeing demand for New Zealand cream surge.
Fonterra is building a new UHT cream factory at its Southland Edendale site – which when complete later this year will produce 50 million litres of cream annually.
The co-ops chief executive of greater China Teh-han Chow has been visiting the plant this week to check on progress.
“It’s looking fabulous, it’s a really important site for us and it’s a really important investment for the food service business.
“We’re investing nearly $150 million in a facility that’s going to create a lot more UHT cream, it complements our existing facility in Waitoa.”
Chow said demand for cream is particularly strong in China but sales are up across the Asia region – so the plant has been designed to increase production if needed.
“Cream is in cakes, that’s very popular and it’s also being used in tea macchiatos a iced tea drink.”
Fonterra
He said demand is up as China’s growing middle class spends more on high quality food products.
“If you look at all the base fundamentals, you’ve got increasing urbanisation, increasing middle class and you’ve got consumers that are waiting higher quality products.
“In western markets we’ve seen a move from animal fat based diets to plant based – in Asia it’s the opposite, people want to move from a plant-based diet to a dairy based one because it’s seen as better, healthier and more nutritious.”
Likeminds & Hula
China’s economy has been struggling in recent years and it’s government recently lowered it’s GDP growth target to between 4.5 and 5 percent – the lowest since the 1990s.
But Teh-han Chow is upbeat – he said on the ground the cities are bustling.
“While growth is down, it’s still a good number so I think demand for New Zealand dairy products will continue to grow.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
