30 jobs lost at Fonterra

Up to 30 people will be offered replacement jobs or redundancy as Fonterra moves part of its Northland operation overseas.

The dairy giant is transferring a sugar-milk powder blending operation from the Maungaturoto dairy factory to Singapore.

The plant has 160 staff and up to 30 will be affected.

A handful of those are likely to take voluntary redundancy and the company is looking to place the rest in jobs on the Maungaturoto site or other dairy factories.

The transfer was expected to save Fonterra up to $2 million a year. It will start next month and take up to five months to complete, the company's general manager of New Zealand manufacturing, Brent Taylor, said.

He said the plant would continue to produce a protein-milk powder blend accounting for about 25 per cent of present production.

Dairy Workers Union northern field officer Mark Apiata-Wade said the loss of the operation was disappointing.

- NZPA