Dairy giant Fonterra has announced to invest $240m to build a new mozzarella plant at its Clandeboye site in South Canterbury, New Zealand.
The expansion is expected to double the co-operative’s capacity to produce its individually quick frozen (IQF) mozzarella.
Fonterra global operations chief operating officer Robert Spurway said that the demand for the company’s mozzarella continues to grow in China and wider Asia.
Spurway said: “This new plant, like the two before it, uses patented technology to produce a high quality, natural mozzarella without using chemicals in the production process.
“It is one of our key product differentiators and has helped make mozzarella one of the most in-demand of our foodservice products.
“Once this expansion is complete, Fonterra’s mozzarella sales will have increased by more than 60 per cent since 2008 when the first IQF plant was built.”
Fonterra said that the innovation made in manufacturing of IQF mozzarella has resulted in reducing its processing time from three months to just six hours.
The company has already started the construction work to expand the plant and it plans to roll out the first product from the site in September 2018.
While the expansion work is expected to create over 1,000 jobs, the plant will be able to offer full time employment to 100 people.
Fonterra global consumer and foodservice chief operating officer Jacqueline Chow said: “Forty per cent of people in urban China now eat at Western style fast food outlets once a week, and the use of dairy in the foodservice has grown by over 30% in just five years.
“We see massive growth potential and our teams in the market are continually working to grow this valuable part of the business as we work towards foodservice becoming a $5bn business by 2023.”
Earlier this month, Fonterra launched new milk products in its Anchor range in China to tap the demand for safe, high-quality dairy nutrition in the region.
