Fonterra hits the road after half-year results

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Fonterra has taken to the road to chat to farmers first-hand, after the announcement of its half-year results last week, the co-op's Chief Operating Officer Fraser Whineray says.

"There's been a really solid turnout and I've personally found this very valuable," Whineray told The Country Sport Breakfast's Brian Kelly.

Fonterra had 24 meetings up and down New Zealand, from Kerikeri to Invercargill, and Whineray said they made sure they stuck to farmers' schedules.

"One during the day and one during the night - to work around those milking hours."

It was the first road trip Whineray had taken for the co-op, as last year's plans were put on hold because of the Covid-19 lockdown, which happened just after he started at Fonterra.

Whineray said one of the highlights from his area was the rollout of milk vat telemetry technology.

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"That's where we know the volume and temperature in each vat live, and that really helps us optimise the trucking routes to take care of the well-refrigerated milk that we pick up," he explained.

As a result, Fonterra had ordered five fewer trucks this year, because of the access to better live data and technology, Whineray said.

It was good to see the co-op was still performing well, even during Covid-19 disruption, which made worldwide shipping "very challenging," Whineray said.

Fortunately Fonterra's ocean freight partnership with Kotahi allowed the co-op to manage these challenges and continue to get products to customers.

As a result of some small shipping delays, Fonterra's product inventory was higher than it was this time last year, which meant its investment in working capital was also higher, Whineray said.

"There's a lot of work going in because of that global supply chain but we're in good shape".

Also in today's interview: Whineray talked about what's in store for Fonterra for the next six months.