Rising demand for cream cheese in China

Fonterra is addressing the increasing demand for cream cheese in China, with its plant in Darfield set to produce up to 24,000 metric tonnes of cream cheese annually for the Chinese market.

The growth in China’s middle class, rapid urbanisation and changing consumer tastes have contributed to dairy’s surge in popularity, according to Susan Cassidy, Fonterra’s General Manager Marketing, Global Foodservice. The 20 kg blocks of cream cheese from Darfield will meet growing demand for bakery goods, like cheesecakes and cheese tarts.

“People in China want natural dairy products they can trust in their baked goods. That’s great for Fonterra and New Zealand,” she said.

Robert Spurway, Fonterra’s Chief Operating Officer of Global Operations, said the new plant plays an important part in producing more value-added products for its Consumer and Foodservice business.

“Today, one in four litres of milk from New Zealand is sold to China — that’s the equivalent of 3.4 billion litres a year. Our focus is on creating the highest return from each of those litres," he said. “The new plant will enable us to convert more milk to high-value cream cheese, which is in popular demand. We’re really proud of our technology, which alters the firmness and consistency of cream cheese according to customer preference. It’s a technology first and a huge competitive advantage.”

Fonterra’s Darfield site.

The cream cheese plant has opened up 30 new jobs in Darfield, and Acting Site Operations Manager Shane Taylor said, “Most of the team have learnt everything from scratch. They’ve gone from classroom to practice to real life commissioning of the site.”

Fonterra said this is the first of two new cream cheese plants to be built as part of a $150 million project. The second plant is expected to follow within two to three years.

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