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Fonterra is investing a further NZD 150m (approx. $93.5m) into its operations, building a new cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki, New Zealand.

This latest announcement is the third of several investments made by the dairy co-operative within the last month, following the news of a new protein plant at its Studholme site and a new UHT cream plant at Edendale.

The new cool store at Whareroa will be the size of three rugby fields (19,000-square-metres) and will store around 26,000 tonnes of cheese. It will increase the site’s cool store capacity by around 5,000 tonnes.

Construction will begin next month and will take place over two phases to enable the existing building to remain operational. It is forecast to take three years to complete and is expected to bring new local employment opportunities.

Established in 1972, the Whareroa site currently employs more than 11,000 members of staff and contains 11 plants producing mozzarella, dry salt cheese, butter, whole and skim milk powder, protein concentrates and isolates, and more.

Fonterra’s chief operating officer, Anna Palairet, said the recent investments will have a “significant impact” on the co-op and that the new cool store will play a “crucial role in the resilience of the cooperative’s supply chain”.

She commented: “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”.

Commenting on the wider recent investments, Fonterra’s CEO, Miles Hurrell, said: “Our strong balance sheet is enabling us to invest for future growth and support ongoing delivery of our strategy”.

“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.”

#Fonterra #NewZealand