Fonterra produced over 50,000t of cheese at its Stirling plant in South Otago during the 2015/16 season. This is up from an average annual level of production of between 30,000t and 40,000t.

The plant is now producing 200kg of cheese every minute for markets around the world including Japan, Korea, Australia and the Caribbean.

In the Caribbean and Australia, the cheese is cut or sliced for consumer and food service purposes. In Japan, it is used for processing and shredded for consumer and food service purposes.

Growing demand

Site manager Dwayne Smith said the fantastic result reflected growing demand for Fonterra’s cheese in international markets.

He said cheddar prices had fared well this season compared with other dairy commodity products and demand had continued to be strong in key strategic markets.

Fonterra spent $7.75m (€4.96m) upgrading the factory in 2010 and it now produces 15% of the giant co-op’s cheese.

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