Axe falls on Christchurch Weet-Bix plant and workers
Date: 2 Feb 2012Cereal maker Sanitarium New Zealand has indefinitely suspended Weet-Bix manufacturing operations at its Christchurch factory as a result of damage the facility sustained in the February 22 earthquake. General manager Pierre van Heerden said 36 staff at the plant had been offered redundancies as the result of the closure. More than 60 staff were sent home on full pay late last year when manufacturing was suspended, and since then the company has been running its Auckland plant overtime ... more
Whisky firm looking for site for new distillery
Date: 31 Jan 2012The New Zealand Malt Whisky Company expects to decide by the end of the year where to build a $1.7 million distillery - either in Dunedin or Oamaru. At present Oamaru-based, the company has just signed distribution deals with Woolworths in Australia, and separately with New Zealand duty free outlet JR's, to stock its range of mainly single malt whiskies, one of which officially becomes 25 years old this year. Tasmanian-based businessman Greg Ramsay, who led an international syndicate ... more
Partnership makes business sweeter for BioVittoria
Date: 26 Jan 2012You'll have to pardon the pun, but business really has been sweet for sugar-free, monk fruit-sourced sweetener manufacturer BioVittoria since gaining US FDA approval for its product in 2010. Hamilton-based BioVittoria has seen revenue double each of the past three years to US$7.9 million ($9.8 million) last year but puts much of its recent success down to the partnership it secured in April last year with international food ingredient company Tate & Lyle. Biovittoria is a finalist ... more
Fonterra: raw milk regulation changes will "line foreign pockets"
Date: 24 Jan 2012Kiwi families likely to miss out on cheaper milk as profits from extra 200 million litres heads offshore Fonterra said today it was still working through the detail of the Government’s proposals on the oversight of farmgate milk pricing, but said it was already clear that the proposed changes to Raw Milk Regulations were a backward step. Fonterra Chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said the proposed changes to Raw Milk Regulations won’t work and will have New Zealanders ... more
Commerce Commission to monitor milk pricing
Date: 24 Jan 2012Competition watchdog the Commerce Commission will annually monitor milk pricing in New Zealand under a raft of Government proposals announced today to rein in Fonterra's market power and restore public confidence in the milk market. Primary Industries Minister David Carter said Fonterra, which controls about 90 per cent of the raw milk market in this country, would also be required to publicly disclose information about how its sets its milk price, and the farmer-owned dairy cooperative ... more
Fonterra breaks export record
Date: 19 Jan 2012Fonterra has broken its record for the highest export month with 246,000 tonnes of dairy products loaded on ships during December boosting New Zealand’s economy by $1.3 billion for the month. In March 2011 Fonterra shipped 229,000 tonnes of product, but continued growth in global demand for dairy products combined with record milk production early on in the current dairy season has led to another spike. In December, Fonterra closed the door on an export container every 2.7 ... more
Waikato Innovation Park to host spray-dryer operation
Date: 18 Jan 2012Dried food product research in New Zealand is to get a shot in the arm from the Waikato Innovation Park building, the country's first and only independent product development spray-dryer facility. The $11 million Government-funded facility will allow companies to research and develop new spray-dried food, which can prove to be quite a difficult task in large commercial factories. The 7.5 tonne spray-dryer will be lifted into place by crane at Innovation Park on Friday. It will ... more
Coca-Cola plant expands in Christchurch
Date: 18 Jan 2012Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand today announced it is investing $5 million in an automated distribution centre at its Woolston plant in Christchurch. The company officially opened its new $15m bottle production line at its Woolston plant today. The new blow-fill technology enables the company to design and self-manufacture its own PET plastic beverage bottles, rather than purchasing them from a supplier. The company has invested an additional $9m into infrastructure repair and ... more
Heinz to source local tomatoes after Oz exit
Date: 5 Jan 2012Horticulture New Zealand hopes Heinz-Wattie's will use Hawkes Bay growers ahead of international competition as the food company moves sauce production from Australia to Hastings. Reports suggested that sauces to be processed in Hastings after the closure of an Australian plant were made mainly from American and Portuguese tomato pastes. But Heinz-Wattie's spokesman Paul Hemsley said the company would source most of its tomatoes from Hawkes Bay. He said, however, that demand for ... more
Ports of Auckland loses Fonterra
Date: 4 Jan 2012Ports of Auckland has suffered a further blow today with the news that Fonterra, the country's largest exporter, is set to withdraw its export shipments from Auckland amid ongoing strike action at the port. The move comes one month after shipping giant Maersk announced it was switching its $20 million Southern Star container service from Auckland to Tauranga. Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson said the move was unsurprising. "With MUNZ threatening further strike ... more
