Fonterra's online dairy auction subsidiary, GlobalDairyTrade (GDT), said the northern European cooperative Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) will offer food-grade lactose on its platform.
AFI, a global leader in natural whey ingredient production, is an independently-operated subsidiary of Arla Foods, which is a cooperative made up of 13,500 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.
GDT director Paul Grave said AFI will offer "a significant volume" of lactose to the platform to extend its reach as it expands production.
"The quantity of AFI's lactose will deepen liquidity of the product group and the auction will set the market-based benchmark price for lactose," he said in a statement.
"We are confident in the global demand for lactose, and expect a high level of interest from
across our network of over 650 registered buyers," he said.