Kyvalley’s Geelong Dairy line to hit million litre milestone

It’s been on supermarket shelves for less than 18 months but Geelong Dairy is already notching up some incredible numbers.

BOOMING new brand Geelong Dairy is set to pump one million litres onto grocery shelves this financial year, less than 18 months after its launch.

The Kyvalley brand first appeared in Woolworths and Coles refrigerators, as well as in some independent outlets, in May last year.

Kyvalley chief executive Michelle Sonnenschein said 41 retail outlets in the Barwon region now stock the brand, bottled in its North Geelong site.

With the success of its white milk lines, she said expansion of the brand into retail butter and a flavoured milk range was on the cards.

“Volumes continue to grow and we are expecting to reach around one million litres annualised by the end of this financial year,” Ms Sonnenschein said.

“Our milk is sourced from the Western District, including the Colac region.

“Conditions on farm are looking positive however inflationary pressures especially fertiliser and grain continue to impact farmgate returns even with a record milk price.

“Labour shortages are also impacting farmers ability to grow or maintain herd levels.”

Geelong Dairy plant site manager Ashley Tan. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Last month, Australia’s big three supermarkets – Aldi, Coles and Woolworths – announced they would raise the price of their generic milk brands.

Most were selling one litre bottles for $1.30 to $1.35 a litre, which are now priced at $1.60, while a two-litre bottles have lifted to $3.10.

Ms Sonnenschein said the rising retail tide lifted all processor boats.

“We see the recent price increase of all dairy products including generic brands as a positive step towards supporting the Australian dairy industry,” she said.

“With milk volumes continuing to contract in Australia due to the redevelopment of dairy farming land or farms converting to beef, dairy farmers need to be paid a fair and sustainable price for milk.

“We need to support farmers to ensure fresh dairy is available for generations to come and this may mean, as consumers, we have to pay a little bit more to keep dairy farming viable.”

At the recent Dairy Industry Association of Australia awards, the Geelong Dairy full cream milk won a gold medal for highest-scoring pasteurised milk in Victoria.

The full cream line also won highest-scoring unmodified milk in the national competition.

Ms Sonnenschein said Kyvalley were on the lookout for a distribution partner for Geelong Dairy.

“Finding the right partner will allow us to make our Geelong Dairy products available to more consumers,” she said.