Fonterra to launch infant milk formula in China
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra will enter China’s ‘lucative branded infant formula market’ in mid-2013,
according to the Straits Times. Fonterra also plans to build its own China milk processing plant in 2014-2016. Theo Spierings, Fonterra CEO, says Fonterra plans to expand its present Anmum maternal formula to include formula for infants, toddlers and children. “(The launch) would be in the middle of this calendar year in China,” Spierings is quoted as saying. ‘We’re going to focus on certain cities first, where we have Anmum maternal positions,” Spierings said, said, adding that the complete Anmum line will first reach the shelves in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.Fonterra currently sells 30 million litres a year of fresh milk into the Chinese market. It plans to expand its milking operations in China from three farms now to 30 by 2020, and to increase its China-based milk production to one billion litres by the same date. Each Fonterra farm in China has around 5000 animals. Fonterra has about 600 employees in China, half of whom work at three farms it owns. New Zealand’s total dairy exports to China have skyrocketed from $557.15 million in 2008, the year the Free Trade Agreement was signed, to $2.7 billion last year, most of which is from Fonterra.
