Lion Dairy & Drinks (Lion) is excited to relaunch its white milk range in Western Australia under the iconic Masters brand – because that is what its dairy farmers and the community asked for.

“We listened to what the WA farmers supplying our dairy milk and WA people wanted and have responded,” Lion Dairy & Drinks Managing Director Peter West said.

“Masters has a rich heritage in WA; it has been produced locally at the Bentley manufacturing site for more than 50 years, so we understand the strong community connection to the Masters brand.”

“All fresh white milk sold under the Pura brand in WA was manufactured using fresh dairy milk from WA farmers at our site in Bentley; however we took that feedback on board and decided to relaunch our white milk range under the iconic Masters brand,” Mr West said.

“There will be some Pura branding to help consumers in the transition.”

The new-look Masters Pura white milk is available in Full Cream, Hi-Lo, Light Start and Tone variants and available in WA retail outlets, convenience and food service stores.

Also to be launched will be the new Masters Extra Creamy milk. This was crafted specifically for coffee – beautifully rich and smooth with improved stability and frothing, it features a 4.3% fat content and standardised protein to remove seasonal variances, ensuring superior performance and a full cream dairy taste.

Masters Extra Creamy milk has been designed for the café and restaurant channel for use in coffee.

The relaunch of the Masters white milk range follows Lion announcing a major investment of $43m over three years at its Bentley milk manufacturing site in Perth to underpin its growth in the Western Australian market.

The investment will deliver a comprehensive modernisation of the Bentley dairy processing plant, together with new manufacturing capability and a more efficient route to market to better serve customers and consumers across the state.

“This significant investment signals our commitment to Western Australia dairy for the long term,” Mr West said.

“It makes clear our intent to drive profitable growth in milk-based beverages, white milk and our other key dairy categories for the benefit of consumers, customers, farmers, distributors and other local stakeholders.”

Lion is partnering with 29 dairy farms in Western Australia to supply milk for products manufactured for the WA market at the Bentley site. It will pay these dairy suppliers in Western Australia a competitive weighted average milk price of 54.7cpl.

“We are proud to be paying our dairy farmers the highest published price paid in Western Australia,” Mr West said.

“This price is a concrete demonstration of Lion’s commitment to building secure and mutually rewarding partnerships with our farmers and is providing greater certainty to farmers and establishing Lion as the price leader in the market.

“This price together with our investment in our Bentley manufacturing site is also a sign of Lion’s confidence in the Western Australian dairy industry.”