New Zealand farmers are producing a lot less milk, with overall production for June down 10 per cent compared to last year.
South Island volumes have tumbled by 22 per cent, with the North Island declining 6 per cent. South Island cows provided 2 million kilograms of milksolids, 1 million less than last year, while in the North Island they produced just over 7 million kg/ms, down from 8 million.
At the same Fonterra says it is selling more ingredients direct to customers, and has 11 per cent less product in store than this time last year. In June the dairy giant shipped 215,000 tonnes of dairy products, including milk powder.
The co-operative’s latest global dairy update said the closing inventory for the end of the year was forecast to be significantly lower than last year.
«The lower forecast milk supply for the 2016-17 season, combined with lower closing stock means global ingredients will start the new financial year with a much tighter stock position than we have in recent years,» Fonterra said.
In December last year Fonterra shipped a record 300,000 tonnes of product. A spokeswoman said it was difficult to tell this early out whether a similar amount or more would be sold at the end of this year.
For the 12 months to April, Europe increased its milk production by 4 per cent but the rate of growth has been slowing, with this year’s April increase up just 1 per cent on last year’s.
The countries with the largest growth rates were Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Germany. The EU Commission forecasts 2016 growth to finish up at 1.4 per cent.
During the last year to May, China had imported 410,000 tonnes of dairy products, up 23 per cent on the year before. This included from all companies worldwide.
While China imported 30 per cent more dairy product in May, the spokeswoman said this could not be read as a sign that demand was necessarily increasing, as it often fluctuated during the year.
Fonterra is now selling UHT milk powder through an online platform called JD New Channel which covers Hebei, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shandong and Beijing provinces. Retailers order stores direct through an app. At present 15,000 stores are involved, but this will increase to 50,000 by the end of the year.
Over the last year Latin America has also shown strong growth, importing 11 per cent more than the year before.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/82119857/new-zealand-farms-produce-less-milk-as-fonterras-inventory-lowers
