Our ingredients will give your chocolate and confectionery products a natural richness and mouthfeel for unbeatable creaminess and flavour.

Chocolate & confectionery

Our ingredients can be used in a wide range of bakery applications, our attention to detail ensures that consumers enjoy the premium quality they expect.

Bakery

Ingredients suitable for high quality cheese products.

Cheese

Our ingredients provide a clean, milky flavour to canned milk products.

Canned milk

From bespoke creations to classic crowd-pleasers. Our ingredients hero full flavour, nutritional value and creamy texture.

Ice cream

Our ingredients have your yoghurt and cultured needs covered, ensuring full flavour, creamy texture and nutrition. 

Yogurt & cultured foods

Providing nutritional benefits and a clean, milky flavour to liquid milk and other ready to drink products.

RTD liquid milk & beverages

Our ingredients are perfect for a range of formulations. Natural in richness and a creamy, full flavour mouthful. 

Dips, sauces & desserts

Ingredients to provide clean, milky flavour and whitening to coffee creamer applications.

Coffee creamer

Ingredients that will give your powdered beverages a delicious milky flavour, with multiple nutritional benefits.

Powdered beverages

With a clean, natural taste that adds function, texture and nutritional benefits to your performance products. 

Performance nutrition

A range of specialty ingredients made with the highest care, attention and superior quality necessary for paediatric nutrition.

Paediatric nutrition

A range of ingredients that are nutritionally rich and recognised for helping stimulate cell growth and support immunity. 

Health supplements

Take advantage of the antimicrobial and oral health benefits that can be provided by bioactives. 

Oral hygiene

Take advantage of the antimicrobial and skin care benefits that can be provided by bioactives.

Skin care

Farmers supplying Westland and who have been strong performers in our regional New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are unanimous when it comes to the benefits entering the awards can bring.

Entering Dairy Awards brings reward

Over the past two seasons, four of our Westland-supplying farms have featured strongly in the West Coast/Top of the South Dairy Industry Awards.

As a proud sponsor of the awards, Westland is encouraging our farmers to keep up this tradition by entering this season’s coming awards to showcase their own careers as well as the benefits of farming in our region.

A decision five years ago to choose farming over nursing culminated in Moana farmer Trinity Jackson winning West Coast/Top of the South Regional Dairy Manager of the Year last season.

Encouraged by her fiancé Tristan to try dairy farming, Trinity discovered a new passion in farming and decided to run with it.

“I love that dairying is not just a job but a lifestyle,’’ Trinity said. “I love everything about it from animal husbandry to working in the outdoors with my girls and some amazing people.’’

 She says she found even just the process of entering the awards extremely beneficial.

 “The feedback from the preliminary and finals judges was extremely beneficial to my presentation going forward to the nationals and also the constructive advice I received for my career in the industry,’’ she said.

 “I’ve made a lot of industry connections and as well proved a lot to myself. I’m very proud to not only be a representation for other rural woman in the industry, but to have done it while heavily pregnant! I truly proved to myself I can do anything I set my mind to with the right motivation.’’

 For the in 2022-23 Awards, Ireland Cain continued a strong farm tradition when she won the West Coast/Top of the South Regional Dairy Trainee Award. In 2022, she entered the awards after her employers took home the Share Farmer of the Year award in 2021 and was awarded the emerging talent award.

 “Proud as punch I re-entered the following year and took home big one!’’ she said.

 West Coast/Top of the South Regional Share Farmers Award winners in 2022-2023 Maria and Ricky Johnson say they primarily entered the awards that year to gain advice.

 Details on how to enter can be found here. 

The popularity of bovine colostrum has skyrocketed in recent years, with well-being influencers across all the popular social media platforms talking about the latest colostrum supplements to boost immunity, enhance athletic performance, support digestive health and more.

The Unique Challenges of Collecting Colostrum in New Zealand

The Unique Challenges of Collecting Colostrum in New Zealand.

Colostrum is the first milk produced after birth and is a rich source of macro and micronutrients, immunoglobulins and peptides with anti-microbial activity and growth factors (Playford & Weiser, 2021). It is used predominantly in nutritional supplements, but also skincare, pet and sports nutrition.

New Zealand had developed a small but lucrative market for bovine colostrum powder alongside its rapidly growing dairy export market, since at least the year 2000. However, on 1st September 2012, China’s Ministry of Health banned the use of bovine colostrum and related products in infant formula due to a lack of safety data (high calcium, casein and estrogen) (He, 2012). Bovine colostrum is not allowed to be added to infant formula in most markets, and the majority of the colostrum powder sold in China at this time was from New Zealand. Fonterra and Synlait subsequently stopped producing colostrum powder altogether.

Westland Milk Products has been producing colostrum for over 20 years and is the only major New Zealand manufacturer of bovine colostrum powder to this day. We have a small number of loyal and long-standing customers, primarily based in New Zealand and the USA. Finished products containing colostrum are primarily exported from NZ to South Korea, China, SEA, the EU and the USA.

The majority of bovine colostrum powder on the world market comes from the USA where recently Glanbia has acquired two of the largest producers and manufactures more bovine colostrum powder than the rest of the world combined. Despite the raw material from Westland Milk Products being considerably more expensive than US sources, our customers are able to position their products as trusted, premium quality, genuine New Zealand origin products from beneath the Southern Alps.

Colostrum supply has struggled to keep up with booming consumer demand in recent times, and in New Zealand especially, we have some unique challenges associated with the collection, storage and processing of colostrum.

Pasture Based Farming System more difficult for colostrum collection

New Zealand has a grass-fed pasture-based dairy farming system supported by moderate temperatures, fertile soil, plentiful rainfall and abundant sunshine. This means that dairy cows have daily access to grass except when it is necessary to temporarily remove cows from pasture for milking, veterinary advice, transportation, regulatory compliance or environmental conditions. Cows that graze on pasture are perceived to have a better quality of life as they can exhibit their natural behaviours.
In the USA most cows are housed indoors or in more intensive farming systems which enables closer monitoring during calving and subsequently colostrum may be collected much earlier under this farming model. 
Logistically it is more difficult for farmers in New Zealand to monitor the calving process, and subsequently milk cows and collect colostrum under the grass-fed farming system, as the cows are outside calving in paddocks.

Calving, colostrum collection and spring-like conditions make for a frantic time of year

The New Zealand pasture-based farming system results in a specific grass growth curve based on our seasons. This in turn drives our calving season which starts from mid-July to mid-August across the country. The average herd size in New Zealand is 441 cows, so with almost all expected to calve within ten weeks this is a busy time of year on farm. Merge this with the start of Spring-like weather conditions, re-sowing winter crop paddocks and an increase in grass growth and you have the busiest time on the dairy farming calendar.

Collecting colostrum on-top of these other demands at this time of year can be a stretch on resources (Piddock, 2023).

This chart illustrates the milk curve for New Zealand starting in spring each year. It follows that our herds are in calf for a shorter period of the year in New Zealand compared to the USA and EU, where staggered calving across the year produces a flatter milk curve.

The Farmgate Milk Price determines the enthusiasm farmers have for colostrum supply

Milk processors in  New Zealand use a Farmgate Milk Price (FGMP) to pay their farmers for milk supplied. For New Zealand dairy companies, this price is directly linked to the market price achieved on the twice-monthly GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) trading event for referenced commodity dairy products such as Whole Milk Powder, Skim Milk Powder, and Butter (Fonterra, 2024). When global prices are high, and the FGMP is good or very good, the payoff for the additional work required to collect colostrum is less attractive to our farmer suppliers. Subsequently when FGMP is low farmers are more likely to want to retain colostrum to feed to their calves rather than buying in calf milk replacer to feed them.

Calves require colostrum for optimal health

There is increasing awareness of how important it is for a calf to receive sufficient antibodies from quality colostrum within the first 12 hours of life.

Unlike a human baby, calves do not receive any passive immunity from their mother in utero making this first feed critical for their health outcomes. It is also the reason why bovine colostrum is a richer source of bioactive compounds than human colostrum (Moran, 2012).

A calf needs 3-4 litres of colostrum in its first 12 hours of life. At 24 hours old, the calf gut “closes” and becomes unable to absorb antibodies so surplus colostrum is collected for processing after this without affecting the health outcomes of the calves (Colostrum, 2024). In addition more Bobby Calves are being kept in the dairy-beef sector as a future food source and thus with more mouths to feed, farmers are sometimes reluctant to forgo additional or surplus colostrum (Jolly, 2016).

Considerable logistics required when processing fresh colostrum

At Westland Milk Products we know that to preserve and maximise the bioactivity of our colostrum products, we need to process from fresh not frozen colostrum. This means for five weeks from early August to mid-September, we are busy collecting and processing colostrum every day. In other parts of the world, particularly the USA where the bulk of the world’s bovine colostrum is processed, farmers will freeze their colostrum which is then collected at a later date for transport to the processor.

There are significant logistical efficiencies achieved when freezing and consolidating the volumes for processing, but at Westland we firmly believe that processing from fresh has a beneficial impact on the quality and efficacy of the finished product.

In recent years, Westland Milk Products has seen demand for our colostrum products that far exceeds our ability to supply. It takes significant effort and resources to set up new farmer suppliers with the facilities to collect colostrum on farm, and provide the support and education needed to deliver a quality product that does not compromise the welfare of the calves. However, Westland is committed to growing our colostrum pool to meet the increasing global demand for this highly valued product. Our farmer suppliers that contribute to our colostrum programme put in an extraordinary effort at a very busy time of year to supply us with their surplus colostrum from the first two milkings, but the additional returns they gain from this short period are more than worth the effort.

Talk to our Westpro Bioactives team should you have any enquiries.

Colostrum. (2024). Retrieved from DairyNZ: https://www.dairynz.co.nz/animal/calves/colostrum/

Fonterra. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.fonterra.com/nz/en/investors/farmgate-milk-price/milk-price-methodology.html

He, N. (2012, Jul 27). China Banned Bovine Colostrum in Infants Foods since 1 September. Retrieved from ChemLinked: https://food.chemlinked.com/news/food-news/china-banned-bovine-colostrum-infants-foods-1-september

Jolly, A. (2016). Bobby calves: The game changers within New Zealand's supply chain. Retrieved from Rural Leaders: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/awxwahy5osyasgogqry7l/Jolly__Andrew_Bobby_Calves_-_The_game_changers_within_NZ_s_supply_chain.pdf?rlkey=jlpso1btmqz4nr64wk10l0hvx&e=1&dl=0

Moran, J. (2012, Nov 1). CSIRO Publishing. Retrieved from The Importance of Colostrum to Newborn Calves: https://www.publish.csiro.au/ebook/chapter/9780643107427_Chapter5

Piddock, G. (2023, December 14). Farmers Weekly. Retrieved from https://farmersweekly.co.nz/farm-management/cow-numbers-fall-3-5-in-latest-dairy-stats/

Playford, R. J., & Weiser, M. J. (2021, Jan 18). Bovine Colostrum: Its Constituents and Uses. Retrieved from National Library of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7831509/

Westland Milk Products. (2018, June). Dairy Industry Restructuring Act Review. Retrieved from Ministry for Primary Industries: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/31200/direct

Westpro has increased its capacity to produce high quality skim milk powder with the addition of product from its sister company Oceania Dairy Limited plant at Glenavy, South Canterbury.

Glenavy plant boosts skim milk powder production

Glenavy plant boosts skim milk powder production.

We have upgraded the dryer at Glenavy so it can produce more skim milk powder and this in turn has had the flow on effect of increasing the volume of Westpro’s total skim milk powder portfolio. 

With the integration of Westland and Oceania Dairy Limited, both owned by the Global Top 5 dairy company, Yili Group, we are using all dryers and production facilities as efficiently as possible.

We are also very mindful of efficiencies processing our suppliers’ milk as close to where we pick it up from. 

The skim milk powder produced is the same great quality that our customers are used to purchasing. We have the same transparency through the supply chain at Glenavy as we do with our West Coast operation. Westpro now has a wider window of opportunity to grow the instant (agglomerated) skim milk powder market. It also opens up the potential for future products, including more specialised differentiated products from the Glenavy production plant.

We are optimising all dryers so that we have a more consistent particle distribution irrespective of what site or dryer it is produced on.

With the first couple of runs of the season complete we have had positive feedback with one repacking customer saying there has been a 4% improvement in yield given the powder flows well as the particles are more uniform. Instant (agglomerated) skim milk powder is sought after as it disperses easily, making it ideal for beverages.

Our Head of Customer Experience at Westland Milk Products.

Meet Nicki Fraser

Nicki Fraser is our Head of Customer Service, who has been with Westland Milk Products (Westland) for three years. We asked Nicki some questions and she shares her insights on leading a highly engaged team, exciting new innovations like the upcoming Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and the importance of building strong, lasting relationships with customers. Get to know more about Nicki’s approach to customer service and a few fun personal highlights below.

How long have you been with Westland, and what do you enjoy most about your job? I’ve been at Westland for 3 years this month. I’ve enjoyed drawing on my experience to develop a highly engaged team who genuinely care about giving the best possible service to our customers. Together with my team leaders, I believe we’ve created a really positive culture within our department, and I’ve led several improvement projects, enabling the team to work more efficiently, and in turn, make their roles more rewarding.

What upcoming products or innovations are you most excited to share with our customers? We will soon be implementing a CRM system which will allow for greater transparency across the sales and customer experience team, adding context to some of the communication and transactions. The CRM system will also feature a customer feedback function allowing us to gather valuable feedback from our customers to further improve our service and strengthen our relationship with them.

How do you ensure that customers receive the best possible service? Equip the team with the tools to do the job and always look for more efficient and rewarding ways to do things. We also work hard to collaborate with key departments across the business to ensure the customer’s needs are understood and met.

What do you believe is the key to building strong, lasting relationships with our customers? Timely communication is vital, which, given the time zone we operate in, is often via email so it needs to be clear. The team also love to build rapport with their customers and so, if workload permits, we try to maintain consistent support for each customer to allow for a deeper understanding.

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? I’ve recently returned from a trip back home to the UK and tagged on a week in Greece which didn’t feel long enough, so I’d go back to Crete and spend longer there (but only if I could magically skip the 20+ hr flight).

What’s the most memorable concert or event you’ve ever attended? A long-time fan, I was lucky enough to see George Michael live several times, but his concert at the Royal Albert Hall backed by the London Symphony Orchestra was really special, although we were in the cheap seats at the top and nearly passed out due to the heat!

Want to chat more to Nicki? Get in touch with her today.

Westland is in the peak of its milk production season which got away to a strong start after a very mild winter resulted in good grass growth with cows calving in excellent condition.

Milk season off to a good start

Milk production, which opened on August 1, started well ahead of previous years and forecast, a trend that was mirrored across the country. Dairy Companies Association/NZX New Zealand figures show that nationally early season milk production is up by 6.5% YoY (September YTD).

We also had a strong season for producing colostrum, a product sought after world-wide, due to NZ origin claims and the quality of our finished product.

As we enter the traditional peak part of the season, the outlook for production remains on track barring any significant weather changes, such as that we experienced in mid-September and late October which reminded us of the unpredictability of weather in spring.

While our current production figures are good news, we are having to carefully manage our sites and production facilities to ensure all milk is processed efficiently into products such as butter, skim milk powder, casein or milk protein concentrate.

In October our businesses were processing over 4.2 million litres of milk a day. On our highest day we produce almost 1000 tonnes of finished products across our manufacturing sites. 

Peak production means we’re busy at every part of the process, from our farmer suppliers to our warehouse teams working 24/7 picking and packing the goods into containers for export, at times averaging 40 containers a day.

Our care for our staff, our communities and our environment recognised.

Westland Milk Products passes comprehensive SMETA/SEDEX audit.

Westland’s dedication to looking after our people and communities alongside our environment has culminated in us passing the rigorous 4-pillar SMETA/SEDEX audit, carried out at our Hokitika site where most Westpro products are produced.

It’s a significant milestone that underscores our commitment to excellence across key areas of our operations. It also supports our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy which is at the heart of our business operation.

Labour Standards: Ensuring fair and ethical treatment of all employees.

Health & Safety: Prioritising the well-being and safety of our workforce.

Environmental Stewardship: Implementing sustainable practices to protect our planet.

Business Ethics: Upholding the highest standards of integrity and transparency in our business practices.

Passing this comprehensive audit demonstrates our focus on maintaining and continually improving these critical aspects of our business.

Thank you to everyone who gave us feedback in our Voice of Customer surveys over the past two years.

We value our customer feedback.

Thank you to everyone who gave us feedback in our Voice of Customer surveys over the past two years. 

For the past two years we have invited 118 customers to participate in the online survey.

Our 2023 overall ratings were outstanding. Our average score was 7.8, the same as the previous year, but with the verbatim comments slightly more positive. Our customer’s commitment to continue working with us improved to 8.4 (from last year’s 8.2) with 32% of those surveyed giving us the perfect score of 10 out of 10 for customer commitment (an increase from 25% in 2022) and over three quarters of customers gave us a satisfaction score of 8 out of 10 or higher (78% compared with 66% in 2022). There was also a pleasing increase in our net promoter score (how likely are you to recommend Westland) which increased from 52 to 54.

The survey showed that our strengths are the people and staff our customers interact with as well as our high-quality products produced in a clean, green environment. Among the many kudos to our staff, our customers say they do an excellent job, have strong relationships, are easy to deal with, are quick to react and respond and are knowledgeable, providing trusted advice.

Another positive is that our customers are more aware of the Westpro brand which we refreshed last year. This is helped in part by ensuring the brand is more visible on uniforms, presentations and sales collateral. 

From the survey results we recognise there are opportunities to improve communications to our customers ranging from more information about trends and market information to the regularity and timeliness of detailed shipment and pricing information. Our customers want to be kept in the loop with updates, particularly when there are issues around supply or transport. There is also the opportunity to better connect staff with customers seeking specific information on innovation and research and development, the business and products and technology and documentation.

We listen to what you tell us and to address the issues raised in previous surveys we are :

Rolling out a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to automate some communications and help share customer information across the wider team.

Developing a customer onboarding process – bringing customers up to speed on Westland’s way of working, key contacts, and processes.

Providing customers who request it, with an order status report so that they know where their order is in the process. The updates conclude at shipment.

Publishing a bi-monthly newsletter to keep customers informed on market trends, Westpro performance, product information and how the business is going. You can sign up here.

We will continue with our annual survey as it keeps us honest and gives insight into key areas affecting your business and how we can improve our service to you. We would like to make it part of a larger Voice of Customer strategy which will include various touch points such as understanding service levels on a regular basis when you interact with the order management team and developing a more structured onboarding process.

Our Global Account Manager, specialising in the sales of Westpro Milk Powder and Proteins across New Zealand, Australia, and the Middle East.

Meet Brett Paterson

Our sales team is dedicated to working closely with you to get the best outcome and product for your application. We’ve had the opportunity to ask Brett a few questions so you can learn more about his role, approach to customer engagement and get to know him a little better.

What is your role, and what does a typical day look like for you?

I am the Global Account Manager for Westpro Ingredients at Westland, currently working in the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand regions.  A typical day would involve balancing our stock and upcoming production with customer forecasts and new business opportunities and converting our available product into firm sales. Trying to achieve the best result for Westland while at the same time working with and supporting customers with product to support their requirements. 

How long have you been with Westland, and what do you enjoy most about your job?

I have been at Westland for 4 years and enjoy the variety in the role. Working with people across the business as well as the contact with the end customers based all around the world to support their requirements provides both a challenge and feeling of accomplishment when successful.

 How do you stay connected with our customers and understand their needs? 

The time difference can make this difficult with us so far away from some of our major markets. To help with this we plan regular/annual visits to customers to keep the personal contact up which is very important. Aside from that we make ourselves contactable as much as possible by using different forms of communication.  Video or voice calls, emails, Whatsapp, Messenger, texts etc. are all utilised with different customers based on their preference to help keep updated on new or existing orders and to understand future requirements and market sentiment.

What markets have you travelled to recently? And where are you going next?

I attended Gulfoods in Dubai back in February which was an experience. It is one of the world’s largest food and beverage events with a lot going on. It is a great opportunity to meet existing customers and look at potential new business in one place. More recently I have been over to meet customers at their offices in Saudia Arabia and Dubai, and in September I will be visiting Qatar and Egypt.

When you're not working what do you enjoy doing?

Spending time with the family and ferrying the kids around to watch their various activities is always enjoyable.  Other than that, I like watching most sports and on occasion am known to enjoy the odd beer or two.

What’s the most memorable concert or event you’ve ever attended?

I went to a Slash and Miles Kennedy concert at a Student Union bar with only 100 or so other people. They played on a small stage only a couple of meters away which was incredible. It was some performance, and the ears were ringing for a week as it was so loud.

Want to chat more to Brett and learn how Westpro can work in your applications? Get in touch with him today.

Westland is proud to announce the successful attainment of ISO 14001 certification, a global benchmark for environmental management systems.

Full team effort behind ISO 14001 certification.

Westland’s pursuit for environmental excellence was recognised with the company being awarded ISO 14001 certification, a global benchmark for environmental management systems.

Chris Pullen, Environmental Manager, says achieving the globally recognised accreditation is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team, who has diligently implemented and refined the company's Environmental Management System (EMS) over several years.

A rigorous audit spanning multiple days assessed Westland's operations across its Hokitika, Rolleston, and Hickory Place sites. The audit commended Westland for its exceptional workplace tidiness, strong organisational practices, and the staff's comprehensive knowledge of environmental standards. While minor non-conformities were promptly addressed, the overall assessment highlighted our robust approach to environmental stewardship.

"Achieving ISO 14001 certification is a significant milestone for Westland," Pullen says. "It reflects our commitment to operating sustainably and minimising our environmental impact. We thank our employees for their dedication and look forward to continuing to enhance our environmental performance."

The company will continue to invest in its EMS, ensuring ongoing compliance and improvement.

Brett Paterson, a Westpro Global Account Manager recently visited Saudi Arabia and Dubai to meet with direct customers and two distributors.

Strengthening our ties with the Middle East.

Westpro is already on the front foot as it looks to strengthen its ties in the Middle East.

Brett Paterson, our Global Account Manager recently visited Saudi Arabia and Dubai to meet with direct customers and two distributors who we are looking to work closely with in the region.

Relationships are very important in this part of the world, Paterson says. Our customers and distributors want certainty that we can maintain a regular and continuous product supply into the region and there will not be shortages if demand from other importing countries picks up.

Our high heat skim milk powder, made from fresh pasteurised milk and used primarily in the region in breakfast creams and condensed milk, is the biggest volume product. Paterson’s visit reinforced that our Westpro product is highly regarded as a premium/quality product which can be used across all specifications, unlike some of the other brands. Given this, he says it’s important to have stock available to meet ongoing demand for this product.

In line with other countries we export to we are seeing growth in demand for proteins, including Westpro TotalPRO Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) 70 and now Westpro TotalPRO MPC 85, a low fat, low lactose product with many uses including in performance sports powders.

Price is still an important factor and while the quality of our product has benefits, our customer service and availability to the customer is crucial if we are to retain and pick up further business.  We need to be visible in the market  - they want to “feel the love” from us and we need to continue to foster relationships. Likewise, they want to be able to contact us easily and have quick responses so they can make decisions.  That means being available as required either by phone, email, WhatsApp, or text.

Paterson says a strong relationship also requires supporting them with order movements, particularly when problems are encountered. Examples include disruption to supply, and production caused by the April floods in Dubai along with shipping delays. 

Shipping delays to the region are still challenging, with considerable variations in vessel sailing times from one shipment to the next. Blockages are also occurring at ports which leads to products taking longer to be unloaded once they arrive. This makes regular ordering more difficult either to avoid running out of product, but also to avoid over stocking with no room to store excess product,  leading to demurrage fees as containers are picked up later.

“We recognise the challenges and it’s so important for us to help in any way we can,” Paterson says.

Our endeavours to reduce the amount of waste we are sending to landfill is paying dividends according to the results of our second CSR Progress Update on our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy.

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy making an impact.

We generated 146mt less waste across our sites in the year ending December 2023 compared to our 2020 base year. The reduction means we are tracking well against our roadmap to ensure we achieve our core target of a 35 per cent reduction in waste from our sites to landfill by 2030.

The CSR strategy is core to our business strategy and drives our environmental and social performance.

One of our targets is reducing our carbon emissions. Last year we updated our carbon reduction targets to reflect our success the previous year. We have brought forward our target of a 25 per cent reduction to 2025 and are seeking to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2035.

We have refreshed our carbon reduction roadmap to deliver on our updated target.  Our second progress report shows an increase in our overall emissions in 2023 compared with the previous year, but this is a direct reflection of us processing more milk last year which required more coal, transport and electricity. Despite this, we have plenty of initiatives in the pipeline to support sustainable long-term emissions reductions across sites.

We have also improved the efficiency and impact to the environment of our milk collection fleet with seven new trucks replacing older, less efficient trucks in the fleet.

Progress continues on our social responsibility targets related to community support and sponsorship, staff training, safety and engagement. Our staff engagement score increased to 70 per cent in 2023, compared to 50 per cent the previous year.

In 2023 we were awarded a Gold Medal by internationally renowned CSR auditor EcoVadis, and we also gained Toitῡ Enviromark Diamond Certification for the first time.

This year we are refreshing our CSR strategy to ensure targets and initiatives are focused and aligned across Westland Milk Products and its related companies in New Zealand - Canary Foods, Easiyo, Pure Nutrition and Oceania Dairy Limited. Reporting will begin based on a new CSR strategy and targets from 2025/26.

Read the full 2023 CSR Progress Report here.

The first lactoferrin produced at our new $70 million Lactoferrin plant will be heading to customers all over the world before the end of the year.

Lactoferrin Plant will increase Westpro’s product range.

The new plant at Hokitika is on track for commissioning in September when trial runs of both spray and freeze dried lactoferrin are scheduled.

With the addition of spray-dried lactoferrin to complement Westland’s freeze-dried lactoferrin range, we will be one of the only lactoferrin manufacturers in the world capable of producing both formats on the one site, a unique advantage for our customers.

The plant will increase our capacity to produce lactoferrin, the minor protein found in milk which is in demand world-wide due to its reported health benefits.

The development is an important milestone for Westpro’s Bioactives strategy. The addition of spray-dried lactoferrin to our range opens up excellent large volume opportunities for us to supply to customers that prefer the finer particle of spray-dried lactoferrin.

 Spray-dried lactoferrin blends very well into formulated powder products and is less visible in the blend than freeze-dried lactoferrin, which some customers prefer.

 Our innovation and technical teams are gearing up to carry out an extensive testing programme on the new products to benchmark how they compare to our current freeze-dried lactoferrin. Our teams also want to ensure we are meeting our customers’ stringent requirements for the new specifications.

Our global customers will receive the first commercial samples before the end of the year so they can complete their evaluation and qualification of the new products. 

The new building is nearly complete, although we need to remove the roof in the next couple of months to install the spray dryer components by crane.

Sustainability Week was a chance for Westpro’s staff to appreciate their role in the success of our journey to embed sustainability in our operation and become more socially responsible.

Sustainability a team effort at Westpro

Held in June for the third consecutive year, the week-long event included daily sessions to bring staff up-to-date on our initiatives including those to reduce our waste and carbon emissions.  It also encouraged them to learn more about our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy which determines how we care for our natural and social environments.

A huge positive for Westpro is that our staff are embracing our endeavours with many involved in our energy saving treasure hunt to identify opportunities for us to become more sustainable over the next 20 years.

We are also identifying other reuse opportunities across our liquid and solid waste.

Some of our initiatives underway include regular waste audits, ensuring our suppliers provide us with ingredients that can be recycled and getting staff to remove plastics off cardboard so it can be recycled. Staff gave the thumbs up to our initiative to compost shrinkwrap inner cardboard tubes, which can’t be recycled.

Work is ongoing to identify ways to reduce CO2 emissions and identify alternative energy sources as required by the proposed national target of 2037 for an end to the use of coal-fired boilers.

One of the projects in our carbon reduction plan is to remove the diesel boiler at our Rolleston site and instead use LPG steam to produce hot water through a heat exchanger.  This project is expected to generate a 13 per cent reduction in our emissions at the Rolleston site.

There was plenty of opportunity for staff involvement in the week’s activities, including participating in the competition for the best nature photo.  Our Christchurch staff enjoyed the chance to pitch in and get their hands dirty at a Saturday tree planting event at the Halswell quarry.

India is a potential market for Westpro’s Whey Protein Concentrate where whey protein is used widely as an egg replacer and in nutritional products.

India – a potential market for our protein products.

India is a growing market for Westpro’s Whey Protein Concentrate where whey protein is used widely as an egg replacer and in nutritional products. Our sales team visited India recently and found that in line with other parts of the world, India is experiencing strong consumer demand for high protein products from its growing population.

We have recently started selling our protein products to India as an opportunity for more New Zealand supply has arisen. Westpro’s Whey Protein Concentrate, a proven quality egg replacer from a functional perspective, is definitely the right product for us to market in India, an evolving market due to its growth, changing retail environment and modernisation.

Culturally as a market only 23% of the population eat eggs. The lacto-vegetarian diet favoured by many Hindus, the main religion in India, includes milk-based foods and other non-animal derived foods, but excludes meat and eggs. Hence the high use of eggs replacers in products such as cake mixes and UHT products for domestic use.

India is different from other markets, but there seems to be drive for growth and modernisation, particularly in cities such as Delhi where the streets are beautiful. As a country, it is early in its evolution of organised retail shopping, but significant effort is going into the growth of organised retail chains. For example, Starbucks plans to open 1000 new stores in tea-loving India which equates to one new store every three days. This retail growth is providing employment, particularly for young people giving them a sense of independence and wealth.

Considerable research into new food products is accompanying this modernisation. There is a real commitment to innovation which involves pilot laboratories and test kitchens. Products are being developed in laboratories using precision fermentation which is being used in a variety of ways by both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Our visit involved meeting with some key customers and contacts and to meet in person our new customers. We visited distributors, end users and the team from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to give us the best possible view on what the future could be in India for Westpro and dairy products in general, from New Zealand.

We believe there is bright future of our products in the rapidly evolving Indian market. Customers we met like having a choice of suppliers, and products from New Zealand have strong appeal.

We have reduced the coal needed to heat the boilers at Westland’s Hokitika plant by up to 45 truck and trailer loads a year due to the success of a heat recovery project initiated three years ago.

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