Fonterra says "human error" has resulted in the loss of its multi-million dollar licence to export cheese to the United States.
As a result of the error, a deadline was missed which meant Fonterra (USA) failed to apply in time for licences to import New Zealand cheese into the USA in 2015.
"Fonterra has reached commercial arrangements with other New Zealand cheese licence holders to ensure that we can meet our planned 2015 New Zealand cheese orders in the USA," Fonterra's director global ingredients Kelvin Wickham told Radio New Zealand.
However, Mr Wickham said the financial impact was "limited".
The company will now have to sell its product to the US through other licenced exporters from New Zealand.
Federated Farmers spokesperson Andrew Hoggard said the blunder was disappointing for the dairy industry, particularly in the face of a potential market as big as the US.
"We all know that Americans love their cheeseburgers - there's big gains to be made if we can get our products in there," he told Radio NZ.
"It's always disappointing when mistakes are made ... you really do need systems that are going to prevent that from happening."
Last year New Zealand exported $33 million worth of cheese to the US.
3 News
source: newshub archive
