Fonterra has announced an investment of $150 million for a new cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki.
This announcement follows recent news of a new protein plant at the Co-operative’s Studholme site and a new UHT cream plant at Edendale in the South Island.
Fonterra CEO, Miles Hurrell, said these investments are about creating value at every point of the value chain for the Co-operative.
“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,” said Hurrell.
“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 5,000 tonnes.
Fonterra COO, 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 unitholders over the long-term,” said Palairet.
Palairet said 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 per cent of the Co-op’s cheese, along with a number of other products including butter, casein, and powders,” said Palairet.
“The Taranaki region is a dairy heartland and I’m delighted we’re able to make this significant investment into shoring up our operations at this site, which is one of the largest in our network.”
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.