Fonterra intends to crank up its milk processing capacity in the lower North Island, planning a new milk powder dryer at its Pahiatua plant.The company said it was applying for consents to build a third dryer at the plant to process an additional 2.5 million litres daily.
The new dryer would create 45 new jobs.
Director of New Zealand operations Brent Taylor said the extra dryer would help ease peak processing pressure in the lower North Island.
«Our two existing dryers at Pahiatua are already running at capacity, processing 1.4 million litres a day, and for the past 12 years we have had to send at least 1.6 million litres a day by rail to our site at Whareroa to process.»
The new dryer would be a similar size to Fonterra’s recently opened plant at Darfield.
Taylor said the company had looked into several possible locations in the North Island to expand processing capacity and Pahiatua’s proximity to good infrastructure such as a nearby port and rail lines made it a good option.
Source: Stuff
