The investment was supported by Westland’s parent company, the Yili Group, and will be used to construct a new lactoferrin plant at Westland’s Hokitika facility.

The international demand for the milk protein lactoferrin is growing across a variety of nutritional categories because of its reported health benefits.

According to Westland, the funding will more than triple the production capacity of the multifunctional protein at the Hokitika site.

Westland resident director, Zhiqiang Li, said: “Westland is the only New Zealand commercial manufacturer of bovine colostrum powder, and this move will place us in the top three leading global companies in the lactoferrin category, with a market share of approximately 10%”.

Westland’s CEO, Richard Wyeth, added: “We cannot improve on the incredible quality of the natural product our farmers produce day after day, but we can ensure that we extract maximum value for that product, and our lactoferrin strategy is a critical part of that”.

He continued: “Our bioactive ingredients innovation pipeline is well advanced, and we’re excited to be a step closer to bringing these concepts to commercialisation”.

According to Westland, the addition of spray-dried lactoferrin – in combination with the company’s freeze-dried lactoferrin range – will position the dairy company as “one of the only lactoferrin manufacturers in the world capable of producing both formats on the one site”.

Construction of the new plant is expected to take 16 months and is forecast to begin in the first half of 2024.