The New Zealand Blackcurrant Co-operative is putting $450,000 alongside $300,000 of government funding into a three-year project to turn blackcurrants into a high-value extract.

Chief executive Kevin Parish says the Primary Sector Growth Fund money will accelerate work on an anthocyanin powder that separates a premium product from a commodity stream.

“It’s an opportunity for us to effectively split a blackcurrant into two products, and take a waste stream and convert that into a revenue stream for the business,” he says.

The co-operative grew about 5,000 tonnes last season, most of it between Christchurch and Timaru, Parish says. Globally, the powder is known for eye health, but it is being pushed into sports nutrition on the back of its blood-flow benefits.

“A lot of our products are trading in a commodity market, and what we need to really be doing is going down the value chain.”

Commercial trials began in February, with more in October, and the co-operative presents at the Japan Sports Nutrition Conference in Tokyo this weekend.

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