The Country 04/12/24: Komal Mistry-Mehta talks to Jamie Mackay

Fonterra’s chief innovation officer reviews the latest GDT auction - headlined by a 4.1% lift in the price of whole milk powder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good news day for farming. As I've been saying, we're
going to talk about beef a wee bit later in
the show, but let's talk about the global Dairy Trade
event overnight. Representing Fonterra today. And she's a bit of
a rock star there really. Her name is Commel, a
mystery Meta. She's chief Innovation and brand officer, heads up
the Innovation center as I understand it in Parmeston North.

(00:21):
I'll come back to that Commell, but talk to me
about this good GEDT auction overnight, and I think there's
some sort of announcement from Fonterra tomorrow. It's ten dollars
here we come. Let's be honest about it.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, ok, I think a good result overnight, and it's
a great result for the New Zealand economy, great result
for our farmers and it was really good to see
that list in the GDT index and quite a solid
result for Homwalk powder. So we're seeing quite a lot
of positive momentum there as you see China rebalancing as well,

(00:58):
you know, a bit of a bag through the rest
of the portfolio, but generally, you know, pretty solid result
and we were quite happy as our farmers should be
as well well.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Star of the stable. Whole milk powder another solid gain.
That's about three in a row, so four point one
percent left. It's knocking on the door of four thousand
US dollars per metric. Tom that's good money.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's absolutely a great result and really positive momentum there.
So we were quite pleased with that, and I'm sure
our farmers will be as well.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
So despite the powder's performing strongly, even though skim milk
powder was actually down, awe, but why did the likes
of cheddar and mozzarella go down?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
So I think if you kind of step back and
maybe I'll talk about the fat portfolio, so directionally, the
cream prices globally are under a bit of pressure, but
I think we need to kind of look at that
in the context. You know, prices have been quite high
and when that had and you know, you typically expect
a bit of volativitility, I should say, But look, I

(02:05):
think overall, you know, we're still comfortable with the result
and it's something that we can navigate, but prices have
been very high for a long time, so it's not unexpected.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think you've got your Q one update tomorrow, correct me.
If I'm wrong on that one, and you'll and I
know what you're going to do here com or you're
going to duck for cover and say it's above my
pay grade. I'll leave that to Miles hurrib But I'm
suspecting there could be an announcement tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Look, we've got our Q one announcement. That's right, and
or you called it. When we have more information, we'll
let you know, Jamie. But I always love that you try.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Wow, you've got to try. Ten bucks is a good
round number. I'll just leave it at that. Look, talk
to me. I did introduce you as the rock star
or one of the rock stars at Fonterra when it
comes to innovation. You're the chief innovation officer. You're behind
this new mid tier a cream and Christopher Luxen's been
waxing lyrically about this one.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, we were lucky enough to host them at our
innovation center last month. So look, I think when you
step back, Fonteria actually created the UHT cream category, so
Anchor wipping cream was the only product in the market.
It was breakthrough at the time, and essentially it developed
a cream that holds when you think about cakes and

(03:29):
China and Bakker the cream on top that holds that
was breakthrough technology out of New Zealand and it essentially
created the market many many years ago. And you know,
since then, quite a few players have come on to
the market and they literally when you go to China
and the management team were up there only a month ago,

(03:50):
you know, they hold Anchor Whipping Cream up as the
gold standard. So we're really proud of that. What the
opportunity we saw is as we expanded into different cities
in China and we're expanded into new customers, there was
a real opportunity in the mid tier market where you
needed really good functionality but at a lower, more accessible

(04:14):
price point, and so we developed Anchor Easy Bakery for
this segment. So it's forty percent of the market that
we weren't accessing before and it's been really well received. So,
you know, fantastic innovation to add to the cream portfolio
and I hope to hope you can try it, Jamie.

(04:35):
It's a wonderful product.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Looking forward to it. Hey, CoML Mystery Meta, thank you
very much for your time. You are seriously doing a
great job at Fonterra. When it comes to these innovations.
Keep up the good work. I'm sure they ten thousand
or more Fonterira farmer suppliers. Farmers are very happy with
what you're doing well.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Thank you very much, appreciate it, Jamie