Fonterra is expanding its presence in Asia and Africa, to meet rising demand for dairy products and reduce its reliance on China.
Photo: 123RF
The dairy processor and exporter has opened its first manufacturing plant in Indonesia, and is also working with an Ethiopian manufacturer to launch its first African-produced powdered milk.
Dairy demand in Indonesia is expected to increase by 5 percent a year to 2020, and Fonterra said the $37 million blending and packing plant in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, would help meet that growth, by producing its Anlene, Anmum and Anchor Boneeto powdered milk products.
Fonterra supplied 41 million packages of these products to Indonesia last year, and the new plant will produce up to 87,000 packages a day, which is about three quarters of the amount that is currently exported.
Separately, Fonterra is investing $10 million in a new partnership with Faffa Food to build a plant in Ethiopia to produce Fonterra's Anchor brand of powdered milk.
Ethiopia's government said the plant would help meet the country's goal of ending child malnutrition by 2030.
The joint venture expects to sell $30 million worth of powdered milk in its first year, and eventually branch into liquid milk production.