Barrys Bay cheese to go to U.K., Australia

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 4

Barrys Bay cheese to go to U.K., Australia

PA Wellington The Dairy Board says it is exporting gourmet, old fashioned Cheddar from Barrys Bay, Banks Peninsula, to Britain and Australia to get better value from its cheese quotas in the two markets.

The board’s deputy general manager, Mr Phil Lough, said that exports of the high-value, waxed Cheddar to British would earn New Zealand twice as much as equivalent amounts of ordinary Cheddar.

Cheese usually returned just under $4 a kilogram to farmers but this specialty Cheddar would give them about $7 when sold in Britain.

Earnings in Australia would not be quite so high, but still above average.

The board hoped to send several hundred tonnes, worth $1 million to $1.5 million, to both countries each year, Mr Lough said. He did not expect the mature Cheddar to take a big share of any one market but it gave the board the chance to get maximum returns from cheese exports without exceeding its quotas. Although the board initially would concentrate on Britain and Australia, it saw potential in most of its 80 cheese markets including the conservative local market.

“We will learn to walk with these two first though," he said. The Tai Tapu Dairy Company makes the Cheddar in 80-pound and 4.5 kg rounds at its Barrys Bay factory.

Mr Lough said the factory was combining oldfashioned skills with mod-

ern know-how to produce a consistent, upmarket cheese with a distinctive flavour.

The company had the resources to handle the expected growth in demand but, if the markets became significantly larger, the board would be able to find an additional source of supply.