Our business has over the last 15 years gone through a number of changes and one of our strengths is our flexibility . . . It’s been very important to be able to change our recipes to meet the demands of customers and to stay ahead of our competitors,” said Michael White, Lactos’s export manager.

A highly branded operation, Lactos’s Heidi Farm last year took out two Australian Grand Dairy Awards in the semi-hard-cooked category. On the export front its Tasmanian Heritage Cream Cheese Royale, adapted to suit the market, has been a strong performer.

“We started it off in the Taiwanese market and we had some very specific requests from that market in terms of functionality within the product,” Mr White said. “We developed it over a period of 15 months and it is probably now one of our fastest selling products in Asia, certainly in the food service/institutional area.”

Due to increased export demand, Lactos’s cream cheese manufacturing has increased more than ten-fold in the past eight years . Established in 1955 and French-owned since 1981, the company produces Tasmanian Heritage, Mersey Valley and Australian Gold, and sends overseas almost half of its numerous products (brie, blue, camembert, edam, etc.).

Asia is a major focus for Lactos. It has exported to Japan for more than 30 years, and now China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are among the Asian countries on the Tasmanian firm’s hit list.

“Japan started off as a bulk product market for us and we supplied ingredients for processed cheese,” Mr White said, adding that even then Lactos’s flexibility was important. “The product we were supplying was one developed in conjunction with a Japanese partner with a specific application for their operation.”

Based in Burnie, Lactos is a SME with a view to expansion, especially in regard to export. The next five years will see the operation focus on increasing the volume of its output while continuing to create functional product in touch with its export customer’s needs.

“We want to look at products that are specific to certain applications and focus on countries where there is strong food service and retail. We want to position our brands as major brands that consumers are aware of,” said Mr White.

Despite being French-owned, Lactos, like all Australian dairy exporters, gets no favours in the EU market due to high tariffs and low quotas. However, the Asian market is keeping the company busy. Mr White said in the last eight years Lactos’s performance in Asia had moved ahead significantly due to better logistics and distribution in their export countries.

“We’ve seen a lot of development in the markets we’re dealing with,” Mr White said. “A certain percentage of the markets are very well developed and have got very good chilled logistic and warehousing; it’s improved dramatically.”

While Lactos believes it can depend on in-house expertise to achieve its export goals, international bases are also significant in the company’s outlook. Lactos has sister companies in both Japan and China which have their own sales and marketing offices. These work on the ground to help identify and secure Lactos’s logistics and its distribution networks.

“It’s important because that’s the hardest part; you can always call on the resources of Austrade overseas, but you can only spend so much time there yourself. Some of these things need to be looked at on an ongoing basis and that’s the big advantage of having sister companies.”

Another big advantage for Lactos in the export market is the clean and green factor; not only Australia’s, but Tasmania’s own reputation for environmental purity. Mr White admits the company’s locale is significant, especially when international clients visit. He said Lactos’s premium brand, Tasmanian Heritage, was redeveloped to take full advantage of the state’s clean and green standing.

“We’re very careful about what goes under that brand,” Mr White said.