German based food technology company GEA has bagged a contract valued in mid double-digit millions of euros to establish a nutritional powders plant in New Zealand for Mataura Valley Milk.
The plant, which will come up at McNab, near Gore in the south island of the country, will process fresh milk and ingredients into added value nutritional powders along with standard wholemilk and skimmilk powders.
It is likely to be operational for the 2018 season with a daily production capacity of 140 tonnes of nutritional powder. About half of the nutritional powder produced from the plant will be exported to China.
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft CEO Jürg Oleas said: “This contract, which was long-awaited to win by GEA, serves as further proof of our technological leadership and strong market position in the field of dairy processing.
“It also demonstrates the continuing investment appetite of our customers as they attempt to satisfy the growing consumer demand on the Chinese market for milk-based infant formula and other high-quality milk products – and that in an environment impacted by regulatory changes.”
As part of the contract, GEA will also set up a milk reception and standardisation plant. Besides, it will also take care of batch formulation, powdered and liquid ingredients handling, evaporation and drying along with powder handling and filling into 25kg bags.
The plant will also be equipped with automation processes as well as product traceability features.
GEA will also focus on the energy efficiency of the plant during its design, and also the environmental impact caused by it during production.
The plant’s owner Mataura Valley Milk is controlled by Chinese Animal Husbandry Group (CAHG) through a majority stake.
