Murray Goulburn Unit Trust on Tuesday announced plans to build a A$280 million ($208 million) formula processing factory in partnership with U.S. company Mead Johnson Nutrition and Indonesia’s Kalbe Nutritionals.
The first stage of the plant in the state of Victoria will be operational in early 2019 and will initially produce 45,000 tonnes of powder formula per year, Murray Goulburn said in a statement.
«In an already competitive Chinese market, this rise of a mobile middle-class, plus e-commerce gives disruptors new avenues to compete and win,» said Murray Goulburn CEO Gary Helou.
Australia is seeking to dominate Asian markets for premium foods, as the country looks to rebalance its economy as a mining investment boom fades.
China represents 18 percent of Australia’s dairy export volume. Asia as a whole accounts for 78 percent of the export market, valued at A$2.88 billion ($2.15 billion) last year, according to Dairy Australia.
E-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba, import two-thirds of dairy products into China, according to Chinese market consultants The Silk Initiative.
«We are going more and more direct and it will keep going until it reaches an equilibrium. Will it be sustainable in the long term? We don’t know, but we welcome it,» said Helou.
Shares in Murray Goulburn have risen by 4 percent since Monday. ($1 = 1.3421 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jarni Blakkarly; Editing by Joseph Radford)
