Fonterra is to build a new $150 million cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki.
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell said the investment, along with plans to build a new protein plant at Studholme and a new UHT cream plant at Edendale, are about creating value at every point of the value chain.
“Over the past few weeks, Fonterra has announced significant strategic investments to expand and upgrade its operations. Our strong balance sheet is enabling us to invest for future growth and support ongoing delivery of our strategy,” he said.
“These investments enable us to keep growing our ingredients and foodservice businesses as we look to prioritise these channels to create more value for the co-op.”
The new cool store will be the size of three rugby fields (19,000 m2), store around 26,000 tonnes of cheese, and increase the site’s cool store capacity by around 5000t.
Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet said these are big investments, which will have a significant impact on the co-op.
“As is always the case when making investment decisions, we carefully consider where to allocate capital to maximise value to farmer shareholders and unit holders over the long term.”
The new cool store is strategically important as it will play a crucial role in the resilience of the co-operative’s supply chain.
“Our Whareroa site processes up to 12.5 million litres of milk per day and produces 30% of the co-op’s cheese, along with a number of other products including butter, casein, and powders.”
Construction on the new cool store will begin next month and will take place over two phases to enable the existing building to remain operational.
The expansion is expected to create local employment opportunities and is forecast to take three years to complete.
