Logic of Fonterra unit leaving Wellington hard to follow
“The relocation of Fonterra’s NZMP unit out of the city would be very negative for Wellington and the logic hard to
understand”, the President of the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce Barrie Saunders said in a statement today.
“Today I sent an urgent fax to Fonterra CEO Craig Norgate asking him to confirm or clarify whether up to 400 jobs would
be lost to Wellington as a consequence of a downsizing and relocation decision reported to have been made by Fonterra.
“His response indicates no final decision had been made.
“Wellington is an excellent environment for intelligent industries such as Fonterra which aims to be a leader in the
knowledge economy. While we respect the right of all companies to make decisions in the best interests of shareholders,
we believe that the true costs of relocating are often not measured or properly taken into account when companies make
decisions to relocate large operations. A lot of intellectual capital can be lost in such transfers which may take years
to rebuild”, Mr Saunders said.