The project kicked off with a turning of the first sod ceremony yesterday attended by co-op staff, community leaders and local iwi with Hokonui Rūnanga cultural adviser Matu Coleman-Clark blessing the site.
The UHT cream plant is being built to meet growing demand through its foodservice business. The first product was due to roll off the line in August 2026.
Initially, more than 50 million litres of UHT cream will be delivered each year with plans to at least double this capacity by 2030.
The local economy will receive a boost with about 70 new jobs expected to be created to service the new processing, on top of a large team taken on for the construction phase.
Lower South Island operations general manager Andrew Johns said the construction marked the first chapter in a long-planned project.
“It’s fantastic to see all the planning and hard mahi come together, and we’re eager to watch the build take shape in the coming months,’’ he said in a statement.
‘‘The new plant is a big investment in our future here at Edendale, and we’re looking forward to seeing the positive impact on our community as a whole as construction progresses.”
The expansion is part of the co-op’s strategy to grow further value by expanding its foodservice business in and beyond China and increasing production capacity for high-value products.
Ultra High Temperature processing sterilises liquid food to increase its non-refrigerated shelf life.
Demand for UHT cream continues to strengthen and is expected to increase by more than 4% each year to 2032.
A spokesman said the UHT cream would be mainly bound for China and South East Asia with the plant extracting more value from existing milk.
The Edendale site already employs more than 670 people producing whole, skim, butter and fat filled milk powders as well as milk protein concentrate, anhydrous milk fat, whey protein, whey cheese and mineral acid casein.
Each year it sends 14 million bags of milk powder overseas.
