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Keith Turner - Source: ONE News -
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Leading company director and former CEO of Meridian Energy Keith Turner is turning his hand to the dairy industry.
Turner is to lead a new start up dairy company, initially called the New Zealand Milk Co Ltd.
The company, set up by Christchurch investment firm Ocean Partners, is aiming to establish a milk processing facility in the South Island worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Turner says the project is in it early stages and is currently in the consents consultation phase.
It is hoped the plant will be in production by 2012.
Turner says while there are some "dark clouds" on the horizon with the introduction of US dairy subsidies, he is confident dairy prices will rebound.
"This is a long-term game...the current cycle seems to be in the downward trend but it is a cyclical industry," he says.
The company will be a small player and hopes to use its size to its advantage.
"This is not about giving Fonterra a shake up, this is about operating in small, niche markets where there are opportunities to do things in a way that perhaps Fonterra finds difficult to do with its scale," Turner says.
The company is yet to decide what product mix it will offer.
Turner says once the plant is up and running there is a possibility the company will invest in dairy farms and there may be some scope for a dairy asset class on the stock market.
