Last month, Fonterra confirmed it had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the milk-processing assets, subject to Commerce Commission clearance.
The Russian-owned factory, which was commissioned in September 2007, at a cost of $108 million, was placed into receivership in May.
In a letter to commission chairman Dr Mark Berry, one of the receivers, Brian Mayo-Smith, from BDO Christchurch Ltd, said the plant was not operating but would need to resume operation for the 2012-13 dairy season from August 1.
NZDL's 34 suppliers needed certainty their milk would be collected and processed from the beginning of the season and needed certainty for the whole season, or they would have to make arrangements with an alternative processor.
If it did not start processing, not only would suppliers be prejudiced, but they, along with NZDL's other creditors, would be unlikely to recover amounts owed to them.
"In the case of suppliers, those amounts are very significant," Mr Mayo-Smith said.
Failing to resume operation would result in the loss of the company's 46 employees "with obvious further consequences for the value of NZDL".
The receivers had an agreement with Fonterra under which the co-operative would support the operation of NZDL while the commission considered its clearance application.
In its application, Fonterra said the plant offered it an excellent opportunity for the rapid expansion of its advanced nutrition strategy as it looked to lift its share of the international paediatric nutrition market.
That strategy would shift production for exports to smarter, higher-value products for increasingly contested markets.
The plant was capable of making whole milk powder in the interim and delivering a sound return.
Its location conferred transport efficiencies.
Fonterra collected and processed about 82% of the raw milk in the South Island, while NZDL collected and processed about 2%.
The plant had the capacity to process about 800,000 litres per day.
The site was designed to accommodate a second dryer.
With a commissioned cost of about $70 million, that would allow the site to more than double its powder production.
Fonterra understood NZDL secured sufficient milk supply to fill its plant for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
However, about a quarter of that farmer supply was lost to Synlait last season as a result of the Synlait purchase of the Oceania Dairies Ltd project, with which several NZDL suppliers had already signed supply contracts.
By then, NZDL had well-publicised funding problems that dated from the time of construction right through the period of Nutritek ownership, and the milk price NZDL paid to farmers reflected the perceived risk associated with supplying the company.
