Dendairy seeks $6m for heifer project

Published: 22 April 2014

Local dairy firm, Dendairy is lobbying for offshore funding for a heifer project that would require $6 million over the next five years.

Dendairy director Darren Coetzee said the initiative will go a long way in improving the production of raw milk in the country.

"Dendairy is lobbying for offshore funding for a heifer project that would need $6 million over 5 years. The project would be targeting a total of 3,000 heifers on rotating lease hire scheme.

This will go a long way in boosting the production capacity of our dairy farmers. Similar schemes have been undertaken in South Africa successfully, we hope to achieve similar results locally," he said

Coetzee said Dendairy will be launching 15 different products in the coming year following its investment in a $6 million TetraPak plant.

"Following our investment in the $6 million TetraPak plant, we will be rolling out 15 different products in the course of this year and next year. The products will include fruit juices and dairy blends. We are moving into juices so as to meet our target volumes of a million litres a month which we hope to achieve by this time next year."

He said Dendairy has secured a $2 million facility from TetraPak South Africa to acquire two additional TetraPak lines that will cater for the informal sector.

"We will be investing $2 million in two TetraPak lines which will be imported from Sweden, one of them is going to be doing 100ml sachets while the other one will cater for 200ml sachets.

"The investment will be funded through a TetraPak facility with a repayment period of between two to five years.

"The two lines should arrive at the end of April, and hopefully by August we will be rolling out the products. The small sachets are particularly targeted at the informal market which is price sensitive. The investment will also create employment for informal traders," he said.

The director said Dendairy has invested a further a $250,000 in a wood fired boiler which should reduce their costs by 7c a litre, thereby reducing the price of their products.
- chronicle