Miraka processes milk at Mokai near Taupo. Photo / Supplied
Miraka processes milk at Mokai near Taupo. Photo / Supplied
A Chinese-owned company is among three dairy processors which have claimed substantial taxpayer-funded Covid-19 wage subsidies while still operating in lockdown.
Questions have been raised within the $13 billion dairy export sector about the payments to Southland's Mataura Valley Milk, 78.5 per cent owned by China Animal Husbandry of Beijing,and to Miraka which operates near Taupo, and Much Moore Icecream of Auckland.
Mataura was paid $615,775 from the Government subsidy fund for 88 employees, Miraka nearly $900,000 for 128 staff, and Much Moore received $523,946.
From the Ministry of Social Development's website subsidy search tool, they appear to be the only sizeable dairy industry manufacturers that have claimed. The dairy sector is classed as an essential service in the emergency virus response.
Companies can claim a lump sum wage subsidy based on a real or projected 30 per cent drop in revenue over one month because of Covid-19.
Southland-based Mataura Valley Milk started production in 2018. Photo / Supplied
Miraka, mostly owned by Maori incorporations with a Vietnam dairy company a 22.8 per cent shareholder, claimed on projected loss of revenue, said chief executive Richard Wyeth.
However, the loss has materialised due to cancelled export orders for UHT milk, which has led to the temporary shutdown of the company's UHT line, he said. Miraka's milk powder processing plant at Mokai was also closing for the season. Wyeth said the cancelled UHT orders were due to softening demand in China. About 50 employees were currently at home.
Mataura chief executive Bernard May was unavailable for comment.
A statement from the Gore company said among its Covid-19 measures to protect staff and the broader community from the virus it had prioritised handling of its own suppliers' milk, had stopped accepting "some external milk" and consolidated its production plan to reduce the number of staff on-site and the risk of virus transmission.
The measures had come at a financial cost, it said.
Much Moore did not respond to the Herald's approach for comment. But an employee confirmed the New Zealand family-owned manufacturer was operating - only its retail outlet was closed.
Miraka processes milk at Mokai near Taupo. Photo / Supplied
Fonterra, the dairy industry's biggest player, has not applied for the wage subsidy - nor has the second largest processor Open Country.
Fonterra, a farmer-owned cooperative, has 29 manufacturing sites in New Zealand employing 9000 staff. It has a total 11,700 staff in New Zealand.
Mike Cronin, managing director co-operative affairs: "We are grateful to have been allowed to operate as an essential business during the lockdown and have not needed to claim the Government's wage subsidy at this point.
"Covid-19 has presented a very different work environment for us to quickly adjust to, but we are proud of the work our people have done to enable our business to continue under alert level 4 restrictions."
Open Country chief executive Steve Koekemoer said all staff remain employed and the company was shipping and selling as normal.
"It's harder work of course but we haven't laid off any staff and fund our wages from normal operations. We don't project a revenue decline of 30 per cent and so don't see the wage subsidy as applicable."
