Milk firm eyes foreign markets

Lewis Road Creamery wants to export its flavoured dairy product business to Australia, China and United Kingdom.

Company founder Peter Cullinane said: ‘‘From day one with I thought it would be brilliant for us to have premium butter back on supermarket shelves in the UK’’.

‘‘China is a work in progress. We would love to be there and there’s huge interest in the brand but it’s finding products we can get there without all the refrigeration costs.

But milk short shelf life poses challenges for long distance exporting.

‘‘Exporting fresh milk is problematic. That’s why we are so interested in the Chocolate Cream Liqueur, it has the great charm of being shelf stable for a couple of years.’’

Cullinane said the company would test new products in New Zealand first to gauge interest before launching them on a foreign market.

Lewis Road produce flavoured milk, chocolate flavoured butter, and ice cream.

It recently launched its newest products: a chocolate-orange milk and a chocolate liqueur.

Australia in particular is one area that is hard to infiltrate and a lot of research is needed beforehand.

‘‘It’s the most obvious one to go to because they’re our cousins across the Tasman. But Australia is a very difficult market for a lot of New Zealand companies.

‘‘We will be there … we just need to do it in the right way.

‘‘I’d love to be there this year, I’m going to try and make that happen.’’ But China is a different story. ‘‘We’ve been looking very serious at China. I think we have a solution for China. Something consistent with our brand.’’ But he would not provide more detail. ‘‘We do have some products in the secret lab coming out this year that really will break the mould.

‘‘I will speak when I can. I’d be hung, drawn, and quartered if I speak too soon.’’