Fonterra records largest ever quarter for exports

Fonterra has recorded its largest ever quarter, with 620,000 tonnes of dairy products shipped for export to over 100 markets around the world - 36% more than last year.

“We traditionally ship just over 450,000 tonnes at this time of the year, but we’ve had a lot more product to move, and this has meant some creative planning across the wider supply chain to manage and store the additional volumes,” said Gary Romano, Fonterra NZ Milk Products Managing Director.

The demand for NZ dairy products in the Middle East usually spikes just ahead of the month of Ramadan, but this year’s spike was larger than expected. So much so, in fact, that there was not enough container capacity available for Fonterra to meet the export demand. The company chartered its own vessel to take 7500 tonnes of product to ports in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

“Our farmers did a great job making the most out of the favourable weather conditions during the season, and it has been our responsibility to make sure we get the most out of every drop of milk we collected and bring the best returns back to our farmer shareholders,” said Romano.