Cartons, supermarkets for Christchurch milk

Press, 15 May 1987, Page 12

Cartons, supermarkets for Christchurch milk

Canterbury Dairy Farmers will be launching an upright, gable-top, one litre milk carton in August for supermarket sales and home delivery. The company’s general manager, Mr Barry Hogan, said recently that it was too soon to comment on the price of the one litre carton but he confirmed it would be a branded product and launched with a fanfare. . In accordance with the latest milk industry restructuring scheme announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, C.D.F. will have an “exclusive sale zone” within which it will be responsible for all deliveries to homes, shops, dairies and small commercial outlets. Supermarkets and bulk milk sales will be open to competition. Mr Hogan commented that Christchurch was fortunate in having an excellent milk vending system and that C.D.F. would be negotiating with vendors to retain this service without any dramatic changes.

Mr Hogan said milk vendors would be asked if they wanted to supply supermarkets in their areas. “We would like to get as much co-operation as possible,” he said. All packaging and bottling of milk is now done at C.D.F. in Blenheim Road, Christchurch with three delivery depots at Wainoni, Woodend and the Metropolitan site on Russley Road. Since the merger between C.D.F. and Metropolitan Milk last year all cultured foods processing has been done in Russley Road. Under the new industry plan C.D.F. will now be setting prices to its town milk supply dairy farmers. The only price control which will remain in the industry will be a national minimum supermarket price at a fixed margin below the home delivery price. This will protect vendors against price-cut-ting by supermarkets. • Christchurch milk vendors are forming their

own distribution company and are negotiating with C.D.F., said a vendors’ spokesman, Mr lan Murray. A special arrangement would have to be made for deliveries to supermarkets, he said. Vendors wanted to keep the good home delivery service throughout Christchurch but the present 110 runs would probably be reduced to around 80, predicted Mr Murray, as i supermarkets took a small section of the total trade. Meanwhile Mr Hogan has reported that whole milk consumption in Christchurch rose 3 per cent during February and March over the same period in the previous year. He said this was an excellent result — better than at any time since the mid 19705. C.D.F. has also launched Creme Fraiche in the Australian State of Victoria through a whollyowned Australian subsidiary of the New Zealand Dairy Board, Riviana of Melbourne.