Dairy giant adds cheese to online auction range

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Fonterra is about to start offering industrial cheddar cheese at its electronic auctions from July 19.

It will expand the range of products available online to seven, including whole milk powder - New Zealand's biggest volume of dairy exports - skim milk powder, butter milk powder and an industrial butter, anhydrous milk fat.

From May 17, Fonterra will offer milk protein concentrate (MPC) and rennet casein.

Fonterra's director of optimisation, trading and sourcing Ian Palliser said adding cheese was in line with Fonterra's plans to provide customers with a wide range of products on a world-class platform.

The cheddar is a dairy ingredient requiring further processing - not the kind sold at the supermarket.

Palliser said the July 5 auction will mark the third "birthday" of the internet auctions, which have become a trusted price discovery mechanism for globally-traded dairy products and have so far sold product worth US$3.3 billion ($4.2 billion).

"It currently trades around 630,000 metric tonnes, or around 25 per cent of Fonterra total sales, each year and has more than 300 registered bidders from 58 countries," Palliser said.

- NZPA