Fonterra's China team 'in good spirits' despite coronavirus outbreak

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Fonterra's teams in the Shanghai office are "managing quite well", despite the coronavirus outbreak says Teh-Han Chow.

Fonterra's Greater China CEO told The Country Early Edition's Rowena Duncum Covid-19 had created a "very unusual situation" for the co-op.

"This outbreak started right around our Luna New Year holiday when everybody was on vacation or visiting with family and friends."

"Right now our office space employees in mainland China have been working from home for the last few weeks."

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Everyone hoped to return to the office soon and were "taking guidance" from the government which was monitoring the situation very closely said Chow.

Fonterra's consumer brands team was "on the front line" supporting retailers across supermarkets and hypermarkets in China.

"Despite the difficult circumstances I do think we're pretty good. Our team is in good spirits. I had the occasion to call all of our team in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak and they all seem to be very good and I'm amazed by their resilience."

Also in today's interview: Chow talked about how coronavirus was affecting the business side of Fonterra and also discussed his role as Greater China CEO for the co-op.