Murray Goulburn announces investment to support dairy foods innovation

Australian dairy firm Devondale Murray Goulburn (MG) is set to invest around $14m at its Edith Creek manufacturing site in Tasmania, to develop a new range of dairy beverages.

The investment is part of a $127m capital investment, which was announced by the company’s managing director Gary Helou in May 2014.

It will increase the company’s capability to produce a range of formats to deliver differentiated products and packaging for consumers.

The existing lines will be replaced with cutting-edge technology, paving the way for future growth.

MG noted that the investment is in line with one of its key strategic pillars – innovation – and will help meet the growing needs of international consumers and customers for safe, reliable, high-quality Australian-made dairy foods.

Mr Helou said: "The world-leading technology we are bringing to Edith Creek is the first of its kind for our business and the investment will secure sustainable, skilled jobs in the region and current staff will be trained to produce the new, higher value products."

The company plans to begin work at the beginning of the new financial year, with operations likely to commence in mid-2015.

MG has also announced that it has increased its share in the Tasmanian Dairy Products (TDP) joint venture from 56% to 76%, with Mitsubishi continuing to hold the remaining 24%.

Mr Helou said: "These combined investments further demonstrate MG’s commitment to Tasmania and support our journey to become the first choice dairy foods supplier to customers and consumers in Australia and overseas.

"It also represents an important step towards delivering on our commitment to significantly increase underlying farmgate returns for MG suppliers."

With over 2,500 farmer-shareholders and more than 2,000 employees, MG exports dairy food products to the major markets of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Americas.