Mataura Valley Milk has announced investors were looking at their plans and if construction started in the middle of 2009, it would start processing its first milk in August 2010.
The company was last week granted resource consent for air and stormwater discharge by Environment Southland for the proposed $90 million factory at McNab, just north of the Eastern Southland town.
The international financial meltdown meant the country's latest dairy pro-cessor had to postpone construction, but chief executive Chris Shelley said the fundamentals remained strong.
"We are also confident of securing sufficient financing.
"A number of investment groups are looking closely at our plans, and we hope to be able to make some decisions in the near future."
The weak New Zealand dollar made it an attractive investment and with just 22% of Southland farm land that was suitable to dairying utilised so far, Mr Shelley said the growth outlook remained strong.
"For these reasons we remain optimistic that we will start building the plant in mid-2009 and begin commercial production in August 2010."
The company had no choice but to postpone plans in the face of the market meltdown.
"We clearly have to deal with the current turmoil in global financial markets which has affected all projects, not just Mataura Valley's.
"However, the fundamentals for the project are still strong, with New Zealand well placed to supply the growing global demand for high-quality nutritional dairy products."
The company intended producing instant whole milk powders as ingredients in the production of high-value consumer products such as infant formula and growing-up milks.
