With the world’s second largest economy and a population of 1.4 billion, China is an important market for the Co-op. For the past 50 years, Fonterra has supplied high-quality dairy products to Greater China and it is now our single largest UHT cream market.
In April, the Anchor Food Professionals team brought a delegation of 28 customers and 21 distributors from China to New Zealand to find out more about the Co-op first-hand.
The delegation visited our offices, and selected factories and farms, and got to see where the ingredients in their products come from and the “grass to glass” process. The visit started with a series of workshops in the Co-op’s Auckland office, where delegates were taken through the Fonterra story, sustainability, and innovation.
Anchor Food Professionals Transformation Director, Jacob Jin, says the introductory session and workshops allowed the delegates to get a real appreciation for Fonterra, the Co-op culture, and our products.
“Rather than seeing us as simply a ‘seller’ of products, they built a more vivid image of New Zealand (and Fonterra) as an amazing land that produces high-quality milk and the reasons behind this. They were very interested in the sustainability initiatives and innovation. The sessions really built their confidence and awareness of Fonterra and its contribution to Greater China,” Jacob says.
While most customers and distributors were familiar with Anchor cream, butter and cream cheese, many were not aware of the depth of Fonterra’s Foodservice products portfolio worldwide. Following the session where they got to taste a range of different cheeses, many went straight to The Supply Store (within Fonterra’s Auckland building) and bought a lot of dairy products to take home.
Our grass-fed concept is a point of difference for the Chinese market and the delegates were greatly appreciative of the chance to get out on farm and see how our milk is made and processed.
According to Nicole Miao, the marketing director from Anchor Food Professionals, the delegates “had an amazing time” on farm in Waitoa and Darfield where they were able to meet with farmers, milk tanker drivers, and local Fonterra staff.
“It was helpful for them to learn how Fonterra controls the raw milk quality from every milk drop collection. The delegates were very impressed with the Co-op’s professionalism and technology used to evaluate the milk quality via the mobile app on the farmer’s phone. All the customers took photos with the tank drivers, the farmers, their beautiful farms, and the happy grass-fed cows,” Nicole says.
It was a unique chance for the New Zealand-based Co-op teams to meet delegates and learn more about the market.
“It’s not often our farmers and staff get to meet with their customers from China. They were surprised to learn the scale of customers in China and the number of stores selling products with our dairy products. There is continuous innovation in China, and the delegates were able to assure our farmers and team that there is a huge amount of potential for us to unleash together with the seamless collaboration from farmer shareholders, Co-op colleagues, Greater China colleagues, and our distributors and end customers,” says Jacob.