Minister welcomes new entrant in dairy industry

The announcement of the formation of a new dairy company proposing to export was a welcome result from the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act, Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said today.

Mr Sutton said Synlait was proposing to produce niche market dairy products for the international ingredients market, using only milk from cows on its own farms. The dairy export market was opened up through the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act, although Fonterra retains sole access for some markets that run quota systems. That expires in 2007.

He said that Synlait's initiative was the sort of thing the Government had expected to see happen, as was the launch last year of Open Country Cheese.

Mr Sutton said he felt Synlait's formation was a positive development for the dairy industry.

"I think Synlait are doing the right thing in aiming for high-value specialty products, using the results of research and development, coupled with a commitment to rigorous tracebility, and the ability to directly control on-farm factors."

He said that if all went to plan, Synlait would be an interesting addition to the New Zealand dairy industry. Currently, the industry is dominated by Fonterra, with Tatua and Westland dairy companies.

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