Historically, the Anchor brand of milk products in New Zealand was owned by the New Zealand Dairy Group, which merged with Kiwi Co Operative in 2001 to form Fonterra. As the merger would leave New Zealand with virtually no competition in the domestic dairy sector, government legislation was required for Fonterra to be formed. One of the requirements was that Fonterra must divest its strongest domestic brand, Anchor, in the New Zealand market. This did not affect the brand internationally. The brand was sold to what is currently Goodman Fielder. Between 2001 and 2005, Fonterra grew one of their smaller milk brands which was originally only available in the South Island of New Zealand, 'Meadow Fresh Milk' into a nationwide brand which provided good competition to the Anchor Brand of milk products. In 2005, Fonterra did a brand swap with what is now Goodman Fielder, swapping Meadow Fresh for Anchor, allowing Fonterra to again align its international and domestic dairy brands.
Anchor Milk
Fresh Anchor Milk products available in New Zealand are manufactured and marketed by Fonterra Brands, a division of Fonterra. The main plant that processes Anchor milk in New Zealand is in Takanini, Auckland. In addition to the common varieties with differing percentages of milk fat, they also offer "Anchor-Xtra", with extra calcium, and "Mega Milk", with extra vitamins, as well as extra calcium, marketed for children. In 2013, the Anchor brand was released in China.
Anchor Butter and Anchor Cheese are sold in New Zealand, but the brand for these products in New Zealand is still owned by a Goodman Fielder subsidiary. For butter and cheese the brand was not returned to Fonterra in the brand swap so not all Anchor branded products are Fonterra products in New Zealand. However, like most dairy products in New Zealand, the milk is still sourced from Fonterra suppliers and for butter and cheese, it is also likely that Fonterra manufactured the products with Goodman Fielder simply packaging the products.
Outside New Zealand
Internationally the Anchor brand is 100% owned by the Fonterra Co-Op Group. It is available in many areas including:
Anchor Spreadable is one of the brand's specialised products. This butter based spread is softened with canola oil and spreads easily, but marketing claims of its being spreadable direct from the fridge have been questioned. A campaign in 2003 for Anchor Spreadable, created by Jonti Picking, of Weebl and Bob fame, included television ads featuring wobbly cows. Anchor Spreadable, as well as other New Zealand butter products, were banned from import into the EU for a short time. This came after a complaint made to the European Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson, by the German dairy trader, Egenberger.
