Keeping the Milk Flowing this Christmas
While many Kiwis kick back this holiday season, 13,350 members of the Fonterra family will be in the dairy shed, on the road and running the Co-operative’s 28 manufacturing sites to keep the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week business operating in what’s shaping up to be the Co-operative’s biggest-ever month for exports.
Managing Director Trade and Operations Gary Romano says that while the Co-op won't have the final figures until early next year, the way the season's been tracking means containers have been filling up fast.
"The good weather conditions have meant the milk is still really flowing. We broke production records in October " we collected a record 81.5 million litres on our biggest day which is not only higher than last year's record, it's also the first time in the Co-op's history that we've collected more than 80 million litres in one day.
"We're still collecting, processing and shipping around 10 per cent more milk than last year. In March this year, we exported a record 229,000 tonnes of product for the month. If things carry on the way they are in December, we're on track to export close to 240,000 tonnes."
Mr Romano says that while many Kiwis will be taking it easy over the next couple of weeks the Co-op never stops.
"On Christmas day all of our 10,500 farmers will be putting the milking cups on; 850 drivers will be on the road; 1,800 manufacturing staff will be on site and 200 supply chain staff will be packing our export containers.
"It takes a big team to keep New Zealand's biggest company going."
Mr Romano says that while the Co-operative is past the peak of the season, Fonterra cows are still producing around 65 million litres daily.
"That's a lot of milk and we need our farmers in the dairy shed and teams on the ground to collect it, process it and get it to our customers all over the world."
Fonterra Shareholders, the Woolerton family, get ready for Christmas with Fonterra tanker driver Shane Vercoe
For a high res version of this image, click here.
For further information contact:
Fonterra Communications
Phone: +64 21 507 072
