Jo Goodhew

25 JUNE, 2015

Opening of the Oete Farms new goat milking facility

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou. Tēnā koutou katoa.

Thanks and acknowledgements:

• Guy Wills (general manager of NIG nutritionals)

• Matt Bolton (owner of Oete farms)

• Board and staff

Apparently Captain James Cook had a taste for goat milk, and took a goat along with him on his maiden voyage to New Zealand. This was the beginning of a long established history of goat milk in this country.

In 1988, New Zealand was the first country to develop goat milk based nutritional products for infants (by Dairy Goat Cooperative). Since then it has been a long journey building the profile of goat milk, and addressing issues such as when the European Union didn’t recognise goats’ milk as an approved infant formula.

With the EU’s recent approval, and growing global demands in the Middle East, Latin America as well as Europe and Asia, goat milk infant formula already accounts for 7% of our infant formula exports, and future growth is predicted.

New Zealand’s goat milk, goat milk powder, and other premium nutritional powders are now exported to over 20 countries, Korea, Australia and Thailand being our top three markets.

Congratulations Oete Farms and New Image for continuing to grow this industry, it is a significant achievement.

Dairy exports are the single biggest contributor to New Zealand’s export revenue. At an estimated $14.2 billion for 2015, dairy exports make up 40% of New Zealand’s primary product exports.

The government has committed to the goal of partnering with primary industry sectors to double the value of primary industry exports by 2025.

To achieve this, the real value of exports must grow at a rate of 5.5 percent per annum. Achieving and sustaining this growth rate requires cooperation amongst primary producers, processors, exporters, and the government.

To that extent, the opening of this new goat farming facility is a cause for celebration.

We are committed to our job representing New Zealand’s trade and market access interests, and we believe our world-class food safety system ensures we deliver safe and high quality products to the world.

Food safety, quality, and security are of paramount importance to international customers and importing countries. Understanding their needs, requirements and expectations is vitally important.

For dairy export, China is our largest and strongest growth market. Currently we supply over 70 percent of China’s dairy imports.

The free trade agreement signed between our two governments in 2008, along with other demand factors, have placed us in a fortunate position. Since the signing of the free trade agreement, our primary exports to China have grown by 80%.

It is paramount that the industry keeps up its good work in adhering to the standards and requirements that make us a trusted world leader in the production of safe and high quality dairy products.

It is an absolute pleasure to be here today to celebrate the launch of a new goat milk infant formula facility.

Congratulations once again on this exciting new venture.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

© Scoop Media