Spring Sheep: New Zealand sheep milk company eyes up US cheese market

Spring Sheep cheese on display at the Fancy Food Show in New York. Photo / Spring Sheep

By RNZ

New Zealand sheep milk company Spring Sheep is vying for a slice of the US cheese market.

Chief executive Nick Hammond is at the Fancy Food Show in New York pushing the company’s products.

“We’re selling three styles - we have a pecorino, which is a harder cheese; we’ve also got aristee, which is a medium cheese; and then our new New Zealand version of a havarti, which is a really soft, buttery cheese.”

Hammond said the response to the grass-fed range in the US has been phenomenal.

“We feel the New Zealand brand resonates really well with consumers up here. The grass-fed system has also put us at a really high pedestal - it’s even considered higher than organic in terms of quality.”

Getting into the US market is a huge opportunity for the company because the market was developed and growing, he said.

“It’s far bigger than people would realise. The USA imports around 25-30 million kilos of premium sheep cheese annually. That’s a market that’s very stable and and growing.

“It’s also not being particularly well-serviced by Europe - they have struggled to keep up with sheep milk volumes - so there’s a really amazing opportunity for us to come in here and build a major growth platform.”

Hammond said the first commercial volumes of New Zealand produced sheep milk cheese will go into US speciality stores later in the year.

- RNZ