Dairy brand Anchor enters Ethiopia and Australia

Anchor Fortified Milk Drink is a milk powder specifically formulated to provide families in the emerging Ethiopian market with access to affordable high quality dairy nutrition. Across the Tasman, the new range of Anchor creams in Australia – Anchor Pure Cream; Anchor Thickened Cream; Anchor Light Thickened Cream – is aimed more to the country’s foodie and culinary culture.

Ethiopia: fastest growing economy

Fonterra’s Global Brands and Nutrition Managing Director Rene Dedoncker says: “The launch in Ethiopia is an exciting opportunity with our first real move from a consumer brand perspective into Africa and gives us an opportunity for a future regional play. Ethiopia is the second largest population in Africa with close to 100 million people and the fastest growing economy in the world. However, despite the staggering economic growth more than 40% of its population are malnourished and lack access to affordable nutrition. Our Anchor Fortified Milk Drink is a highly nutritious product and we want it in the hands of millions of Ethiopian children. Affordability is paramount and we’ve partnered with local food processor Faffa Foods to ensure we keep costs low and get our product out across the country.”

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Partnership with Woolworth

“In Australia the chilled cream category is worth over $300 million but in recent years there has been a decline in the number of shoppers purchasing fresh cream. We believe there is a big opportunity to get cream back on the weekly shopping list by motivating foodies to buy cream all year round and packaging it in cook-friendly formats,” Dedoncker says. The new range of Anchor cream will be available exclusively in Woolworth’s supermarkets across Australia. This partnership, in conjunction with the 10 year contract to supply fresh white milk for Woolworths Select, helps to strengthen Fonterra’s partnership with the Australian retailer.

New brands in other countries

New Anchor products have also recently been launched in Sri Lanka, China and New Zealand where the brand already has a strong foothold. In Sri Lanka, the portfolio has been extended with liquid products. Fonterra’s China business has recently launched the upgraded skim milk product and in New Zealand, a kids yoghurt drink has been made available in a pouch format.