Fonterra follows Murray Goulburn and cuts milk prices for Australian farmer suppliers

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra will cut the price it pays its Australian farmer suppliers this season.
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The retrospective cut will see prices fall from $5.60 per kilogram of milk solids to $5.
The cut comes a week after Australia’s largest milk processor, Murray Goulburn, cut its profit forecast and milk prices.
Fonterra says it will offer loans up to 60c/kgms that farmers can repay from the 2018 financial year.
Fonterra Oceania managing director Judith Swales said, in a statement, the price cut was the result of a «supply and demand imbalance» and a strengthened Australian dollar.

«The reduction in the farm gate milk price is the last thing farmers want to hear — however, it is unlikely to come as a surprise,» she said.
«With around 40 per cent of Australia’s milk exported, our ongoing message has been that Australia is not immune to the global dairy challenges, that the milk price did not reflect current reality and that farmers need to budget conservatively.»
Global dairy prices have continued to a slide in the past year, thanks in part to the European Union removing dairy quotas, reduced demand and Russian import bans.
The price cut comes in the wake of Fonterra cutting milk prices for its New Zealand suppliers in the last year.

Analysts warn of hard times

Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said about 80 per cent of the state’s dairy farmers would be affected by Fonterra and Murray Goulburn slashing farm gate milk prices.
Ms Pulford met industry leaders in Melbourne today, where they discussed how the State Government might be able to help.
«We have 4,000 farmers looking at the balance sheets in their own businesses and a lot of them have big questions,» she said.
«People are in a state of shock, people are angry, they I think have had their confidence shaken in decision-makers.
«People are experiencing some pretty significant distress. That’s why it was important to me to bring together the dairy industry.»
Finance analysts warn many farmers, who are already dealing with unseasonably dry conditions, will struggle to turn a profit this year.

 
Source: ABC
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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