Countdown To Competition, page-44

Personally I think A2M are very well placed to take on any arising competition in Australia when it comes, and despite competition arising from the likes of Origin Milk in the US, A2M still have a first mover advantage on a US national scale, and a good head start should one of the big US dairy companies also have a go.

Ahead of the May patent expiry we are starting to see some competitive activity here in New Zealand now at a regional level, although it’s possible, perhaps even probable, that some larger dairy companies are also preparing in the background. The margins on a2 milk generally would be well noted.

This one, Moutere A2 Milk, is still in a start-up phase and probably aiming for a launch in May.

http://www.hothouse.co.nz/our-work/moutere-dairy/

A2M can’t enter the NZ fresh milk market directly until the Fresha licence expires sometime in 2017, so it will be interesting to see who wins the race for market share in NZ. Should be quite fascinating to watch really over the next eighteen months or so.

My view is that A2M should absolutely pursue the NZ a2 fresh milk market from next year onward, even though they could achieve greater margins from exporting that same a2 milk as UHT, IF or WMP.

All A2M efforts to prevent other NZ dairy companies from achieving inertia and eventually possibly becoming an export competitor over time off NZ domestic momentum would be worthwhile.

Either way, for those of us who have been buying Fresha a2 milk for a few years, may be of the view that, whoever comes along within the NZ a2 fresh milk market, they could do way better than Fresha at marketing and distribution just by getting out of bed in the morning.