New mascarpone hits the sweet spot in Japan
A new type of mascarpone is set to prove a treat with consumers in Japan, as Fonterra puts the final touches on a project aimed at meeting growing global demand for dairy.
The recently commissioned mascarpone line at the Co-operative’s Te Rapa site brings a new offering to Fonterra’s already strong portfolio of exported ingredients.
Fonterra Director Global Foodservice Grant Watson said the acceleration of plans to supply China with more UHT is exciting for the business, given new builds in the foodservice space are typically demand-led.
“For foodservice products we build capacity based on secured customer orders. The fact we have needed to bring the project forward is a good sign of dairy’s growing popularity in China and points to the strength of our teams in market who are identifying that demand and converting it into sales.”
Fonterra’s recent Annual Results showed total sales in its foodservice portfolio have increased exponentially, currently growing at a rate of 15 per cent on last year.
Fonterra Chief Operating Officer Global Operations Robert Spurway said the new line will be up and running by March next year and will bring the site’s total UHT capacity up to 112,000 packs per hour.
“This new line enables us to expand our operations to send more of our farmers milk to higher value products and keeps us on track to meet our ambition of foodservice becoming a $5 billionbusiness by 2023,” said Mr Spurway.
The new line will be at full capacity by April next year and will create 14 full time jobs at the site.