GEA receives €40m order for dairy plant

Fonterra has ordered a new milk powder plant worth more than €40 million ($55.9 million) in New Zealand.

Expected to be operational in August 2012, GEA Process Engineering will be the lead segment for this order, which processed 90% of New Zealand's milk.

"The demand for dairy processing equipment has been quite dynamic recently. In December 2010 we saw dairy orders worth more than €50 million from French Danone, Japanese Yotsuba and Chinese Mengniu," said Jurg Oleas, CEO of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft.

In 2010, GEA generated consolidated revenues in excess of €4.4 billion, 70% of which came from the food and energy sectors, which are long-term growth industries.