Fonterra has record quarterly exports, hires own vessel
Record exports of 620,000 tonnes in the final three months of its season. Ship chartered to send product to the Middle East.
BUSINESSDESK: Fonterra achieved record exports of 620,000 tonnes in the final three months of its season.
Its 2012 May, June and July shipments were 36% more than the corresponding period last year, reinforcing the 2011-12 record milk production by its 10,500 dairy farmer members. Total milk production was up 10% on 2010-11.
“We traditionally ship just over 450,000 tonnes at this time of year, but we’ve had a lot more product to move and this has meant some creative planning across the wider supply chain to manage and store the additional volumes,” Fonterra NZ milk products managing director Gary Romano says.
“For the first time since Fonterra was formed, we chartered our own break-bulk vessel to send product to the Middle East.”
Mr Romano says though dairy product demand usually lifts ahead of the Islamic month of Ramadan, the demand spike was more than expected.
“There was not enough available container capacity at that time of year. This meant Fonterra had to charter its own vessel to take 7500 tonnes of products to ports in Dubai and Saudi [Arabia].”
The new dairy season has just begun.
Peter Kerr
Mon, 20 Aug 2012
Mon, 20 Aug 2012
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Fonterra has record quarterly exports, hires own vessel
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