Fonterra has announced it will be implementing an $11.5 million investment program to increase cheese and whey powder processing capacity at its dairy manufacturing sites in northern Tasmania.”Fonterra already processes two-thirds of the milk produced in Tasmania. As a result of this investment we will be able to accept more milk from next season and Tasmanian dairy farmers can have confidence in the future of their industry,” Bruce Donnison, Managing Director Ingredients Australia, said.

Fonterra’s investment in their Tasmanian business will include increasing processing capacity at Wynyard to supply Tasmanian cheese to customers on mainland Australia and in overseas markets such as Japan. The funding boost will also be used on processing equipment that will improve the quality of cheese, a drier that will ensure higher whey volumes can be processed and expanding facilities for milk collection trucks at the Wynyard site to support increased milk volumes.

After the capital program is complete Fonterra will be able to collect an additional 200,000 litres of raw milk every day and the company’s production will increase by 4,000 tonnes of dairy products per annum.

“Today’s announcement represents a mix of new initiatives and some previously announced projects that were put on hold in 2009 due to the global financial crisis,” Mr Donnison advised.

“This investment will unlock processing bottlenecks at Fonterra’s sites in the short-term, while creating a foundation for a significant increase in processing capacity for Tasmania in the longer term.”

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