Dairy Foods, the former Fonterra subsidiary selling about 45 per cent of the nation's fresh milk, has started its expansion into export markets with a pre-mixed base for iced coffees sold by a global cafe chain.
Dairy Foods will produce pre-mix for "frappucino" drinks sold by Starbucks licensees in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The iced coffee drink is a signature product line heavily promoted by the coffee chain, and took the dairy marketer two years' development to exactly match the flavour and consistency of the drink.
Several million litres of the liquid pre-mix will be made at Dairy Foods' Takanini plant.
General manager of beverages Kevin Bowler said in a statement the company's ability to produce a consistently high quality product helped it win the contract.
The export deal is a further windfall for Graeme Hart's Rank Group, which last month bought Fonterra's half of Dairy Foods for a bargain-basement price.
Initially it paid $1.70/share, or $119 million for the stake, but lifted the price to $1.75 after an independent valuation estimated the shares were worth between $1.75 and $1.98 each.
- NZPA
