Synlait's proposed $260 million specialist dairy manufacturing plant at Pokeno will contest only about 2 per cent of milk production in the Waikato, the least competitive major dairying area in the country, says chief executive John Penno.
The Pokeno plan, which requires Overseas Investment Office approval and other consents, is listed Synlait's first manufacturing foray outside its Rakaia, South Island base, and the north Waikato township has been chosen as much for its proximity to ports and good energy and people resources as much as milk availability, Penno said.
With New Zealand's second biggest dairy manufacturer and exporter Open Country currently building its second big plant in the Waikato, at Horotiu, north of Hamilton, Synlait's announcement of its Pokeno site purchase at first blush further challenges Fonterra's dominance of farmer supply in the region.
But Penno said there was so much milk in the Waikato it was the least competitive dairying region, and while Synlait's proposed first dryer at Pokeno would be sizable by infant formula site standards at 7-8 tonnes an hour capability, it would be small in the New Zealand dairy manufacturing scheme of things.
The Waikato has the country's largest concentration of dairy cows at 23 per cent of the national herd. Taranaki is next with 9.7 per cent.
