By Jessica Rowe
A new baby formula made purely in New Zealand, from the dairy cow, to the milk powder, right down to the packaging, is being snapped up in China.
Christchurch company Carrickmore has been inundated with hundreds of thousands of orders for Nutrition.
Its first shipment leaves next week, and Chinese mothers can't get enough of it.
It's something Kiwi mothers take for granted – cheap formula made from New Zealand dairy cows.
Two-year-old Archie has a bottle a day, and his mum is looking forward to trying the new formula that is going global.
"I think it's fantastic that there's a homegrown product that we can use and trust and our toddlers are getting totally homegrown milk from New Zealand cows,” says the mother.
The factory is running flat-stick trying to produce formula fast enough for the surging demand from Chinese mothers.
It will retail here for around $20 a can.
In China it will be going for more than double that, and Chinese mothers are happy to pay the premium for formula guaranteed New Zealand-made, right down to the tamper-proof packaging.
The first shipment of $36,000 cans will be on the water next week.
“The scale of demand in China is very high,” says Carrickmore managing director Chris Claridge. “Our can will go into approximately 600 stores. This means the demand is very significant, but because of New Zealand's capacity to supply we would have no problem with providing that.”
The Chinese are known for lapping up our infant formula.
It's not uncommon for them to buy up cans here and send them back to friends and family in China.
There is a lingering distrust in Chinese formulas after a batch was contaminated by melamine back in 2008, killing six infants and making another 300,000 sick.
Four years later, Chinese mothers are still worried about what they're feeding their little ones.
“For this particular product, because it is pure New Zealand-made, and both sold in New Zealand and in China, the Chinese mothers can trust this particular product,” says exporter Chris Zhang.
Exporters say the Chinese consider it lucky to give birth in the year of the dragon, and the baby boom is creating an even higher demand for the Kiwi formula.
3 News