Murray Goulburn (MG) says it will build a new state-of-the-art nutritional powders plant to supply finished products to Asia on the back of two new infant nutrition supply deals.
MG has forged long-term supply agreements with global paediatric nutrition company Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) and Indonesia’s largest publicly listed healthcare company Kalbe Nutritionals.
The nutritional powders investment at Koroit in western Victoria enabled by the deals is key to MG’s strategy to shift to more stable and higher value added dairy foods, according to the company.
MG says it will invest $260-$300 million at Koroit to construct and commission its new nutritional powders facility, while MJN will co-locate a nutritional packaging plant on the site.
This plant will be delivered in two stages, with the initial installation of a 45,000 tonnes per annum dryer that will be increased to up to 90,000 tonnes per annum as market demand increases. MG expects the first phase of the plant to be operational in early 2019.
MG said that when combined with its existing 18,000 tonnes per annum drying and canning nutritional powders plant in Cobram, the investment will create a sector-leading infant nutrition hub in Victoria, from which MG can supply its global nutritional customers and the company’s own Devondale Natra Start infant formula to key markets.
“MG will now move forward with the plans to construct the nutritional powders plant at Koroit to initially provide a further 45,000 tonnes of capacity,” MG managing director Gary Helou said.
“This will be utilised to supply infant formula under our own new brand, Devondale Natra Start, as well as our partners’ market-leading brands. Importantly, we have refined our plans to add a further 45,000 tonnes of capacity at the site given the encouragement we have received from our partners, and the very strong growth in demand we are seeing for Australian-made product.”
Once completed, the plant will supply finished products for sale within the Asia Pacific region, including China.
The supply agreement announced this week with MJN, which is the only global company exclusively focused on paediatric nutrition, involves establishing a strategic supply alliance.
MG also secured a long-term nutritionals supply agreement with Kalbe Nutritionals, one of Indonesia’s leading consumer health and infant nutrition companies.
Kalbe manufactures and distributes premium quality pharmaceuticals, energy drinks and nutritional products for sale in Indonesia and Asia.
