Info from investor relations: all is going to plan
Just in case somebody else on this forum was wondering as well how Synlait's recent projects are going - I contacted them end of last week (investor relations) and asked about progress on their blending and consumer packaging facility, as well as on Chinese approval.
Here is what Synlait told me yesterday in response:
- construction of the blending and consumer packaging facility is complete; commissioning began in June 2014. At this stage they claim to have met all deadlines previously stated with no material change, and therefore they didn't see the need for any further update.
- next step is to obtain approval of their Risk Management Plan by the Ministry of Primary Industries. This process is well underway and they are waiting on the outcome before taking the next step of seeking Chinese registration.
- they are confident of receiving the required Chinese regulatory approval to export finished infant formula into China following the approval of this plan.
No concrete dates and they sort of dodged my question why many competitors already managed to get approval but they didn't. I take from their communication, that they didn't yet started the process to seek Chinese approval (waiting for PMI's approval of their risk management plan). However - it sounds like we can sleep well in the knowledge that commissioning goes according to plan.