Fonterra to focus on Chinese market

Fonterra to focus on Chinese marketFonterra, which is the world's biggest dairy exporter, has indicated that it will continue to focus on the Chinese market to expand its presence in the global market.

The New Zealand dairy co-operative said that it will continue to market its own-brand milk products in China and expand its food services business in the Chinese market, which is a fast growing dairy market. The company has recorded a fall in earnings during the first half of the year.

The company said that its earnings fell 41 percent during the first half of the year. It said that ti was recorded higher input costs due to increasing global dairy prices and a lack of capacity to process record-high milk volumes and produce higher-yielding products. This has affected the earnings of the company during the period.

The company is aiming to tap into increasing dairy demand from China and other countries and offer its products. Fonterra raised 1.25 billion yuan or $201.53 million in five-year  bonds in January and thus has enough finds to expand its presence in the Chinese market.

Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said, "There's definitely plans to go into UHT in China because that's the way forward. Those plans you will see announced and coming to the table in the next financial year."