The co-op has 113 suppliers in North Island, has remained independent from Fonterra since its formation and has always paid a competitive milk price.

Fonterra’s milk price to farmers was $3.90 (19.27 c/l) for the same season. And Tatua is guiding $5.60 to $6/kg (27.7c to 29.5c/l) compared with Fonterra’s new forecast of $5.25/kg (25.9c/l) for this season’s milk.

Operating revenue for Tatua was $281.2m (€182.78m) and earnings before tax of $99.7m (€64.8m), which equated to $6.41/kg (31.7c/l) before retentions and tax.

Tatua has been expanding recently with the construction of a $65m (€42.25m) specialised powder drier. The new drier creates protein hydrolysates, which can be used by athletes, infants or elderly people, because it allows protein to be absorbed into the body at a much faster rate.

Tatua was better able to deal with dairy market weakness because of its product mix of caseinate, whey powder concentrate and AMF (liquid butter).

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