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ASB general manager rural Mark Heer.
People say China will be self-sufficient in milk soon, says ASB general manager rural Mark Heer.
But he does not see China jumping into the supply equation in globally relevant terms any time soon.
"I have been up there a few times.... China has 20% of the world population and 7% of the world's arable land and 5-6% of the world's fresh water resource but about 50-60% of that is contaminated and can't be used for animal or human consumption."
In the current milk price cycle there are a few factors in play making it longer than they expected. Eighteen months to two years ago they would have said by today things would be okay.
He says in NZ there was $2 deferred payment through into that first year of low milk price so the cashflow into that year was still reasonably strong.
"To a certain degree it hid a market signal that supply globally had to come back.
"Compounding that, EU quotas came off and whether or not EU farmers are making money out of milk now.... For years they had been told how much milk they could use so there is this pent up excitement about having control of their own business.
"Also, oil prices are down and there is a strong correlation between oil prices and other prices.
"What we've seen over the 18 months is a perfect storm of everything that could hide a need to globally reduce supply."
About 735 billion litres are produced annually in the world and NZ produces 20-25 billion litres – about 3% – but we supply about a third of what is traded. When there's surplus supply, that impacts the traded portion of the market.
One of the country's leading experts on China has praised the NZ Government for its handling of the recent incident with China over that country's cyber attack on two of our parliamentary institutions in 2021.
Hopes of NZ sheepmeat prices picking up anytime soon in the country's key export market of China looks highly unlikely.
ASB says the decision to sign on to the AgriZeroNZ joint venture came out of a wish to be a part of the solution.
An $8/kgMS farm gate milk price is still on the cards with less than six weeks left to run this season.
Zespri has unveiled the award-winning KiwiBrothersTM mascots in China for the first time to market its large kiwifruit crop.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
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