NSW dairy co-operative Norco has stepped up its presence in the domestic market following groundbreaking moves into China last year. Flagging significant expansions in Sydney, Chair Greg McNamara said the co-op was “receiving a lot of requests for Norco milk in Sydney based on the fact we are an Australian farmer-owned company.”
Mr McNamara, speaking at an International Dairy Week event last week, said the “fresh milk war” in Australia had brought the importance of local products to consumers attention and a new wave of accountability to large retailers.
“Coles was ripe for the picking,” he said. “They had been beaten up by just about everyone in Australia and needed 100 per cent transparency and this was tough.”
Norco joined the Murray Goulburn co-operative in 2013 in signing a deal to supply Coles milk for $1 a litre.
Mr McNamara said it didn’t mean that Norco supported $1 a litre, but it wanted retailers to support and acknowledge the importance of regional processors and farmers.
He said it was part of a new wave of accountability for retailers in that if they said they were supporting Australian business, then they had too.
He said there was distrust of Coles within the co-operative but they had to accept it was a large fresh-milk player in Australia.
Read the full stories on Norco below:
$1/litre milk war has helped change retailers behaviour: Norco boss, The Weekly Times, January 28
Norco’s home front focus, The Land, 2 February
