Big cheese celebrates Fonterra's inroads into huge market

Say cheese. It was the appropriate command yesterday as John Key and his official party posed on the steps with the management of the Hoko Cheese Plant in Nishinomiya City.

New Zealand flags were abundant, as were the "haere mai" greetings to Mr Key. Fonterra was represented by board member Jim van der Poel and Mark Kennerley, the president of Fonterra Japan.

The two companies, Fonterra and Hoko, mix their products and supply the McDonald's chain with cheese in Japan, attracting no tariff barrier.

Of the 200,000 tonnes of cheese imported into Japan, Fonterra's market share is about 30 per cent, said Mr Kennerley.

Mr Key's tour ended with a press conference with local media the way politicians love them - with applause at the end and no questions.

Earlier, he was shown around the Kobe sewage treatment plant, which converts the methane from sewage into biogas for vehicles.

It makes enough at present to run 40 city buses a day travelling 50km and 700 cars travelling 30km.

The refining technology to make the biogas is from Flotech, which is based at Mangere Bridge in Manukau.

Mechanical engineer Stephen Rowntree flew up from Auckland this week for the Prime Minister's visit.

He said the company had many projects under way around the world but there was little take-up in New Zealand.