Dairy giant Fonterra is looking at buying more land in China to develop two more dairy farms.Fonterra China managing director Philip Turner said the company had identified several possible sites for the new farms in Hebei Province.He said the Chinese dair
Dairy giant Fonterra is looking at buying more land in China to develop two more dairy farms.
Fonterra China managing director Philip Turner said the company had identified several possible sites for the new farms in Hebei Province.
He said the Chinese dairy industry was continuing to develop quickly but the current supply of high quality fresh milk was failing to keep up with demand.
“We are looking to help grow a safe, secure and sustainable milk supply in China in order to meet this demand and expand our customer base.”
He said Fonterra’s pilot farm in Hangu, created three years ago, had succeeded in demonstrating the company could produce New Zealand-standard milk in China and it reached target production levels ahead of timetable.
In the 2008/09 financial year the farm produced 17 million litres of milk. Fonterra expects production to grow as the farm news an optimum production level of 9000 litres of milk per cow each year.
Each of the new farms is planned to be of similar size to Hangu, with around 35 hectares of land and around 3300 milking cows – a density of nearly 100 cows per hectare.
Mr Turner said Fonterra would consider a partnership with the investment but would want to have full management of the farms.
