The new plant has been built inside the former National Foods flavoured milk plant on the Cobden-Warrnambool Road that Fonterra acquired in 2012.

Fonterra has built a multi-million state-of-the-art fresh milk plant, which was completed on time and within budget to begin operating on Monday.

The new factory is adjacent to Fonterra’s Curdie Street factory that produces Western Star butter and other dairy products. 

Fonterra Australia managing director Judith Swales said the start of operations was the beginning of a new era of making world-class fresh milk at our Cobden site.

“The expansion of our Cobden plant will generate over 50 new jobs and have positive flow on effects to the local community and our farmers,” Ms Swales said.

“The plant will process up to 100 million litres of milk each year to provide Woolworths with fresh milk for its Select Own brand milk for the next 10 years.

“Everyone involved in the Cobden expansion has done an exceptional job readying the site. 

“The long-term agreement with Woolworths provides certainty for our farmers that they will have a home for their milk,” Ms Swales said.

“Cobden’s quality milk is now on its way to Victorian Woolworths stores, and will help bring the goodness of dairy to the homes of families across the state.”

Over the next four weeks, the plant will ramp up production of Woolworths Select Own Brand Milk, making it available across Victoria.

The Beverages Plant will be officially launched at an event in September.

The National Foods factory, inside which the new plant has been built, closed in 2010 but was built only last decade.

Corangamite mayor Chris O’Connor welcomed the plant’s start up, saying milk production would generate more jobs than plants that produced bulk dairy products.

“It keeps jobs within our shire,” Cr O’Connor said.

He also said the plant was likely to less exposed to the fluctuations of the export market with the milk produced for the domestic market, giving dairy farmers some price stability.