MEDIA RELEASE

28 May 2021

CIRCULAR HEAD DAIRY FARMS SOLD IN $62 MILLION DEAL

Tasmania’s largest dairy farm, Van Dairy, has sold a dozen of its smaller farms as part of its commitment to have 10 percent Australian ownership of the land in the far north west region.

The Circular Head farms have been returned to Australian ownership for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Van Dairy owner Xianfeng Lu said 12 farms had been sold to Australian company Prime Value for $62.5 million.

The sale includes 5000 cows and accounts for 2200 hectares of the 19000 hectares bought by Mr Lu in 2016.

Mr Lu said the sale showed demand for dairy in the region was high.

“This shows that farming in North West Tasmania is very popular,” Mr Lu said.

“It is becoming the dairy industry center of Australia.

“We have attracted many investors from all over the world.

“This sale delivers on our promise for Australian companies to own 10 per cent of the land.”

Mr Lu said annual rainfall in the region reached 1000mm and the average annual temperature was around 12 degrees, which was very suitable for the development of the dairy industry.

The British relinquished ownership of property in 1993 when it became part of the New Zealand publicly-listed company Tasman Agriculture Limited, before changing hands again and being run by the New Plymouth District Council in New Zealand in 2004.

Earlier this year Van Dairy set aside more than ten percent of its total farm area (1800 hectares) to provide habitat for the Tasmanian Devil.

Setting aside this land, which was previously ear-marked for development, was a significant financial investment for the company in the order of tens of millions of dollars. The land is the equivalent of five dairy farms, and 5000 cows.

ENDS