Australia’s Murray Goulburn Co-operative (Devondale Murray Goulburn) has announced three new capital projects worth a combined AS$127m. The projects will be located at the company’s existing sites in Victoria and Tasmania and will be delivered over the next 12 to 18 months.
Devondale Murray Goulburn managing director, Gary Helou said this announcement was another step forward in the transformation of the co-operative and the Australian dairy industry.
The three projects consist of a AS$74m investment in consumer cheese at Cobram, $38m in infant nutrition at Koroit and Cobram, and $14m in dairy beverages at Edith Creek in Tasmania. This follows on from the 2013 announcements of the AS$120m investment in two new daily liquid milk facilities in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as AS$19m in projects to increase UHT capacity at Leongatha, AS$5m for consumer butter at Koroit, as well as a further AS$2m to increase cheese capacity at Cobram.
“We are investing in the future of Devondale Murray Goulburn to deliver higher farmgate returns, as we strive to navigate a new path to meet and serve the growing needs of international consumers and customers for Australian made dairy foods. We are building a better connection with key markets to become the first choice in dairy foods and investing in the future of the Australian dairy industry with the aim of returning it to profitability and growth, ensuring our relevance in the global market,” Mr Helou said.
“The three projects announced today involve investment in world-leading technology with automation for processing and packaging a range of dairy foods destined for Asian and Australian consumers. The plants will carry superior capabilities to customise dairy products for local preferences with efficiency and speed to meet the growing demand for high quality and safe dairy foods from Australia.
“These investments secure sustainable, skilled jobs in regional Victoria and Tasmania and add to higher farmgate returns, which in turn funds regional growth with the vast majority of money spent by farmers in their local communities. Our goal is to increase the farmgate milk price by AS$1 kilogram milk solids by 2017, a level which we believe will encourage existing and new suppliers to invest in their farm business and profitably grow milk production,” Mr Helou said.
The projects are dependent on upgrades to regional infrastructure, particularly energy, and Devondale Murray Goulburn will seek to work with the Ggovernment and energy providers to deliver the upgrades.
About the projects:
- The AS$74m investment at Cobram will build a world class cheese cut and wrap facility to serve Australian and Asian consumer and food service markets.
- The AS$38m investment at Koroit and Cobram will increase capacity for production of nutritionals for growing international infant nutrition markets.
- The AS$14m investment at Edith Creek will install and commission a flexible small format cup and bottle filling line to commercialise a range of dairy beverage products for consumer markets in Australia and Asia.
Source: Foodbev
