http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2014-05-12/victorian-goats-tap-i...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/20...-tap-into-china-infant-formula-demand/5439284

“We get calls every day.”   
The demand for infant formula from China is indeed real, and for Victorian goat farmers Penny and John Gommons, it is a market they are only at the dawn of realising.

“A lot of them are tyre-kickers though,” cautioned John Gommons.

“A lot of the questions come from China, people who have a vision of what they want to achieve, which is not necessarily realistic.

“But there are a large number of real enquiries.”
The couple process milk from their 1,000-head goat herd into yoghurt and dairy products, but increasingly their gaze has been drawn towards the much-hyped Asian infant formula market.

“Our prospective customers, if I were to put it simply, are Chinese, who don’t appear to trust their own food supply,” Mr Gommons said.

“One of the problems is quantity; we’re still little, and it’s difficult in fact to supply the amount they request.”

That’s prompted their business to consider expansion of their processing facilities to cater for the demand, but that requires a serious injection of capital.

“Our next step is to build an infant formula dryer. That’s a big jump in capital and milk supply,” Mr Gommons said.
“Our objective is to construct an infant formula factory, so that we can better grow the industry here in Australia and create more stable markets, so that we’re not only just about local demand.”

The couple are realistic about the potential of accessing Government assistance, but John Gommons stresses that with capital support, Victoria’s Gippsland region could harness the growing demand, creating jobs and lucrative opportunities in the process.

“At the moment, we have to do those things very much on our account. It would be nice if there was some support,” he said.

“I’ll use the New Zealand example. In 2000, the goat co-operative there was a $20 million business. This year, as I understand it, it is going to be a $200 million business.

“There is no reason why that can’t exist here in Gippsland and Victoria or Australia. There is no reason why that can’t be duplicated.”