Fonterra’s 5-star resort celebration

Fonterra’s first ever financial loss of $196 million has barely registered in China, and has not curbed staff from spending up on the company account.

In the run up to this month’s announcement that Fonterra had posted a first time loss, its Chinese operations arm booked an all-expenses conference at the 5-star Sanya resort on Hainan Island for staff and distributors.

More than 100 people attended the event, promoting the fact Fonterra accounts for 36 per cent of all dairy imports into China and its Anchor brand has become the top imported consumer choice in just five years.

A Fonterra spokesman said, like many businesses, it occasionally gathered together teams that were geographically spread to set priorities and plan work programmes.

Its Greater China team recently held a ‘‘kick-off meeting’’ with staff to set the agenda for the new financial year.

‘‘As part of this event, we also marked five years of the Anchor brand in China. This included briefings with media, business partners and customers on the strong performance of our consumer business in China and our plans for the next 12 months,’’ the spokesman said.

There were also reports of an event in the United States, which Fonterra staff travelled to from Europe. NBR said up to 200 staff went to the sales and marketing meeting at Huntington Beach, in Southern California. ‘‘NZMP is an international business, with the majority of staff and customers based offshore, including a significant number in Europe, the US and South America.

Meanwhile, most Chinese media have reported the financial results without mentioning the loss.

There were also reports of an event in the United States, which Fonterra staff travelled to from Europe.