Wednesday, 11 July 2018 09:23

No future without China

Written by 
Keith Woodford says NZ infant formla manufacturers would need to change the way they make the product for China. Keith Woodford says NZ infant formla manufacturers would need to change the way they make the product for China.

New Zealand's dairy farmer leaders have been told that while global demand for milk is great, there is no future without China.

Retired Lincoln University professor Keith Woodford told the Federated Farmers dairy conference that China is where “all the markets and opportunities are”.

“Europe and the US don’t need us, Africa can’t pay for it, so it has to be Asia and that’s where all the growth is occurring,” he says.

Woodford, who has visited China since 1973, says NZ continues to lack understanding of the China market.

 “We have to work with China – spend more time in China understanding how the markets work and not repeating the big mistakes we have made there over the last 10 years.”

He also pointed out that NZ’s spring calving and grass-fed system work well for long-life commodities only, not for value-added products, including infant formula.

Woodford points out that infant formula earnings in China are greater than for whole milk powder but NZ remains a small player with Synlait and Danone doing well. Fonterra has failed to make a dent in China’s infant formula market which is dominated by European processors.

He says NZ manufacturers marketing infant formula state on the cans the manufacturing and use-by dates; this may need to change.

“We talk about milk being a 48-hour asset, then it becomes a liability,” he says.

“What’s the first thing done when your milk reaches the factory? It all gets dried and goes into a storehouse; six months later when things are quieter in winter, the first thing they do is add water back again.

“We won’t be able to do that for too long; the Chinese are onto that and the only reason they are not moving right now is because they manufacture that way as well.”

Woodford says infant formula manufacturing would need to become a one-line system; the manufacturing date for infant formula will be the date milk came to the factory.

He says the industry should start thinking about how it would manufacture for such markets.

“We are the only country in the world to have this calving system; let’s start thinking about other options.”

More like this

NZ wine grapples with oversupply despite export gains

The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.

Featured

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter