Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Fonterra is investing about $150 million to expand the cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki.
The new cool store will be the size of three rugby fields, store around 26,000 tonnes of cheese, and increase the site’s cool store capacity by around five thousand tonnes.
The Whareroa site processes up to 12.5 million litres of milk per day and produces 30 percent of the co-op’s cheese.
Construction on the new cool store will begin next month and is expected to take three years to complete.
Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet said as is always the case when making investment decisions, the co-op carefully considers where to allocate capital to maximise value to farmer shareholders and unit holders over the long-term.
“The new cool store is strategically important as it will play a crucial role in the resilience of the co-operative’s supply chain.
“The Taranaki region is 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.”
The investment comes on top of two others in recent weeks, it is spending $75 million to expand its Studholme site in South Canterbury and $150 million to build a new UHT cream plant at its Edendale site in Southland.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell said the three investments were about creating value at every point of the value chain for the Co-operative.
“Our strong balance sheet is enabling us to invest for future growth and support ongoing delivery of our strategy.”
Hurrell said the investments enable Fonterra to keep growing its Ingredients and Foodservice businesses as it looks to prioritise these channels to create more value for the co-op.