Associate Minister of Trade Todd McClay says a new Fonterra ingredients factory in the Netherlands, opened yesterday by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, marks an exciting step forward in agribusiness collaboration between New Zealand and the Netherlands.

The state-of-the-art factory in Heerenveen, Friesland, has been developed in partnership with Dutch conglomerate A-Ware Food Group, which has built a major new cheese plant next door.

Whey and lactose, by-products of A-Ware’s cheese-making process, will be processed into specialty ingredients by the Fonterra plant. These will be used in high-value paediatric, maternal, and sports nutrition products for sale in the European Union and beyond.

Minister McClay, who attended the opening, says the partnership highlights the opportunities for New Zealand and the Netherlands to strengthen cooperation in the agribusiness sector.

“This is a win-win situation for both companies and countries, and builds on the strong economic ties between our two countries. New Zealand dairy companies now export almost as much product from Europe as they do to Europe, and Fonterra is a major investor in the European dairy market”, Minister McClay says.

“The collaboration between Fonterra and A-Ware is exactly the kind of cooperation we would like to see more of under an EU-New Zealand free trade agreement, which we hope to launch in the near future.”

The factory is Fonterra’s largest investment in Europe, and its first wholly-owned and operated ingredients plant in the region.