Fonterra is investing $32 million to boost its slice-on-slice cheese capacity at a Taranaki manufacturing plant.
Slice-on-slice cheese is used in fast food outlets and quick service restaurants for products such as hamburgers and sandwiches.
Work on the expansion at the plant in Eltham will start later this year and is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, Fonterra said.
The dairy co-operative said the expanded plant would deliver both increased capacity and improved processes to meet growth in demand from customers in Australasia, Asia and the Middle East.
Fonterra foodservice director René Dedoncker said the company’s foodservice business has grown 9 per cent in volume and its profitability had increased by 11 per cent over the past three years.
»We also achieved double digit growth in China where foodservice grew 28 per cent,» Dedoncker said.
International growth in the processed cheese market is being driven by trends towards eating away from home, particularly in emerging Asian economies where there is a continued shift toward more westernised diets, Fonterra said.
The Eltham plant was acquired by Fonterra in 2005. It currently employs 550 people and produces 70,000 tonnes of processed, block, shredded and quick frozen cheeses per year.
Source: Stuff