Anchor debuts in Australia and Ethiopia

Anchor, New Zealand’s dairy brand has opened up new markets with its first consumer foray into Ethiopia and Australia with products geared to market needs. Anchor Fortified Milk Drink is a milk powder specifically formulated to provide families in the emerging Ethiopian market with access to affordable high quality dairy nutrition. Across the Tasman, the new range of Anchor creams in Australia – Anchor Pure Cream; Anchor Thickened Cream; Anchor Light Thickened Cream – is aimed more to the country’s foodie and culinary culture.

Rene Dedoncker, nutrition managing director, says, “Whether it’s a mature or emerging dairy market, Anchor has a place to play and our product innovations allow us to pick the market position where Anchor is most likely to succeed, get early momentum and make a difference in people’s lives.”

“The launch in Ethiopia is an exciting opportunity with our first real move from a consumer brand perspective into Africa and gives us an opportunity for a future regional play. Ethiopia is the second largest population in Africa with close to 100 million people and the fastest growing economy in the world. However, despite the staggering economic growth more than 40% of its population are malnourished and lack access to affordable nutrition.

“In Australia the chilled cream category is worth over $300 million but in recent years there has been a decline in the number of shoppers purchasing fresh cream. We believe there is a big opportunity to get cream back on the weekly shopping list by motivating foodies to buy cream all year round and packaging it in cook friendly formats.”

Fonterra worked with the Food and Nutrition Society of Ethiopia to ensure that its Anchor fortified milk drink provides children with the essential nutrients they may be missing from their daily diet.

Using milk powder manufactured in New Zealand, Fonterra’s joint venture with local partner Faffa Foods means final production, packing and distribution of the new Anchor product can be accomplished in market at a much lower cost.

The new range of Anchor cream will be available exclusively in Woolworth’s supermarkets across Australia. This partnership, in conjunction with the 10-year contract to supply fresh white milk for Woolworth’s Select, helps to strengthen Fonterra’s partnership with the Australian retailer.