Fonterra’s $75 million plan to expand its Studholme factory near Waimate is on track and within budget, with the foundation and walls of the expansion now complete.
The news was celebrated at the time by South Canterbury leaders, including Waimate District mayor Craig Rowley who said it was pleasing to see further investment in the district.
On Thursday, Fonterra Studholme site manager Alan Maitland said the construction was progressing well.
“It’s exciting to see this expansion starting to take shape,’’ he said.
As well as strengthening the site’s role within Fonterra’s network, and creating six new roles on-site, it also sent a strong signal about the Studholme factory’s importance to the co-op’s future. It reinforced its position as a key player in high-value dairy ingredient production, he said.
Maitland said the site was “buzzing with activity’’.
Large equipment used for powder milling would arrive this month, followed by work to make the building’s exterior watertight in April.
Construction of external processing equipment such as new powder storage bins, batching tanks, and a high-pressure pump had also begun and would continue through to next month, he said.
Work was also under way on process modifications which included a dryer safety upgrade, along with tie-in connections including steam, water and air, and product interfaces like high-pressure feed lines and a connection to the powder transfer system.
This had led to increased activity on-site, through the addition of multiple contractors from Timaru supporting this phase of the project, he said.
The first product was expected to come off the line in 2026.
At the time of Fonterra’s Studholme announcement, Venture Timaru chief executive Nigel Davenport also praised the news saying the planned expansion was a sign of confidence in South Canterbury and “huge for us all”.
Although the region was encountering “some challenging economic times, we will, as we always do, come out the other side”, he said at the time.
He put this down to “the diversity and strength” of local industry sectors.
The expansion would provide further opportunities across Fonterra’s supplier-farmer network and for trades and servicing businesses, he said.
Fonterra’s president of global markets ingredients, Richard Allen, has also said the co-op’s dairy ingredients were highly sought after by customers globally.
“We see significant opportunities in the global high-protein dairy category, which is projected to grow by close to US$10 billion [about NZ$16 billion] over the next four years, at an annualised growth rate of 7% per annum,” he said in August last year.
“Increasing our manufacturing capacity for functional proteins will enable us to continue to strengthen our offerings with existing customers as well as attract new business.”
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