ProviCo won the Agribusiness, Food and Beverage category at the 2026 Export Awards, recognising the company’s excellence and leadership in international trade and export.
Over the past six years since buying the former Fonterra site, ProviCo has been exporting its high-value protein ingredients to markets including Europe, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, the US, New Zealand and the Middle East, as well as selling domestically.
It has also built a base of 40 farmer suppliers and grown to 75 employees.
Chief executive Ben Anderson said the award was great recognition for a lot of hard work in developing and continuing to expand the next-generation global bio-protein hub.
“We’re very pleased to get this recognition which reflects a lot of effort over the last few years from the ProviCo team, investors, technology partners and our farmer suppliers,” Mr Anderson said.
“The award shows we’re heading in the right direction.”
ProviCo is nearing completion of the third phase of a $90 million redevelopment of the Dennington plant. This delivered a lactoferrin plant in 2022 and micellar casein isolate (MCI) and native Whey Protein Isolate (nWPI) capability using membrane technology in 2025. The third phase is underway for early 2027 completion and will further fractionate native whey into higher value proteins, including alpha lactalbumin and beta lactoglobulin.
Mr Anderson said ProviCo had a heavy focus on completing the third phase of the investment which would enable the company to offer an even broader range of high-value protein to the world market.
ProviCo will compete at the national Australian Export Awards at Parliament House Canberra in late November.
The Victorian judges said ProviCo milk powder took the company to the world, now it’s exporting something far more valuable.
“From Dennington in South West Victoria, ProviCo is remaking itself as a global supplier of specialised bioproteins, high-value dairy proteins and nutritional ingredients bound for customers across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania.
“The shift is deliberate. And it’s highly technical. Significant investment in advanced protein extraction and fractionation is opening new export opportunities and moving ProviCo further up the value chain, into infant, sports and clinical nutrition, health supplements and pharmaceuticals, among the world’s most exacting markets.
“The foundation remains the same: milk supplied by farming communities across western Victoria and south-east South Australia. As ProviCo invests in manufacturing capability, technical expertise and skilled local jobs, it is proving that a regional Victorian dairy company can do more than produce high-value ingredients. It can help shape the future of global nutrition.”
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