Long time Japanese buyers of Norco ice cream are tucking into the product again after first shipments from the rebuilt NSW North Coast plant have landed overseas.
The NSW-Queensland border-based dairy farmer co-operative expects to export about 1 million litres of ice cream to Japan during 2024 and 2025, bouncing back after 20 months of flood recovery and reconstruction work at its Lismore plant.
Norco's 23-year relationship with its Japanese customers was one of the driving incentives to restore the 70-year-old factory to full production after it was swamped in early 2022 by record-breaking 14.5 metre floodwater.
The 12-month, $100 million rebuild, heavily supported by about $45m in federal and NSW government assistance, included moving critical electrical equipment to a new mezzanine floor 15 metres above ground level.
The February 2022 floodwaters swirled more than 2.2 metres deep in the factory, a prominent Norco landmark on the bank of the Wilson River.
Now the ice cream plant has strengthened walls and 650 kilogram submarine-style ground level flood door to protect milk vats and ice cream manufacturing equipment inside.
The recommissioned site, which employs about 130 staff, began full scale production again in November.
Capacity to spare
It is now producing about 162,000 litres daily or 42m litres a year, including the Cape Byron and Norco Farmer Owned brands, plus its exclusive Japanese market line and private label products for major supermarkets and other retailers.
Although exports are not a big focus of the co-operative's business, Norco also sells into New Zealand and wants to make more use of its capacity.
It is looking at expansion prospects in China, South East Asia and North America.
Norco's premium Cape Byron ice cream range, released in the 1990s, was relaunched with new ingredients and improved mouth-feel qualities when the Lismore plant started production again.
Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Murray Watt, described the commencement of exports last month as "a sweet treat for Norco and its farmers", given the effort required to restore the factory and make it more resilient for future severe weather events.
"International markets love Australian dairy, and a lot of livelihoods around the Northern Rivers and South East Queensland rely on Norco, so this first shipment after two years was an exciting and heartening step forward," Senator Watt said.
"DAFF has worked closely with the management team at Norco to get the co-operative export-ready again."
Community value
The Commonwealth and NSW governments had also recognised the dairy company's relevance to the local community and the value in getting the plant reopened, to protect local jobs and boost flood resilience.
Norco, which has a total workforce of 770, processes about 235m litres of milk annually from almost 200 co-op members on about 190 farms.
Its sites at Labrador on the Gold Coast and Raleigh on the NSW Mid North Coast pack fresh and flavoured milk, cream and custard for the domestic market.
Until 2020 the co-operative was also air freighting fresh milk to China after launching an innovative, market-leading supply chain and quality assurance management system in May 2014.
In a market primarily accustomed to long life milk, the novel fresh Australian product was achieving sales of about 25,000l a week (priced at about $9/litre) in Shanghai within a year of the first shipments leaving Australia.
However, chief executive officer, Michael Hampson, said the pandemic and dampened demand meant the export business was forced to "rationalise" in 2020.
Support from our major customers, both domestic and international, was the foundation upon which we were able to rebuild our iconic Lismore facility
- Michael Hampson, Norco
Norco was proud to be able to maintain its enduring two-decade relationship with the Japanese ice cream market "underpinned by an unwavering commitment to gold standard manufacturing and high quality production".
"Support from our major customers, both domestic and international, was the foundation upon which we were able to rebuild our iconic Lismore facility," Mr Hampson said.
"We are incredibly grateful that our export customers stood by our 100 per cent farmer-owned co-operative as we navigated the rebuild process."
While the rebuild and extra flood protection had been very costly, relocating the plant to a new site would have been cost prohibitive - potentially costing another $100m.
"An entirely new factory on a new site was never an option," Mr Hampson said.
"Norco has been making ice cream in the heart of Lismore since the 1950s, and while a lot has changed since then, our commitment to the local community has not.
"It was important for the co-operative to rebuild the facility not only for its workforce and people, but for its farmers and the broader Lismore community, to help continue driving economic activity in the region."
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
