increase font size
Toni Brendish.
Westland Milk Products chief executive Toni Brendish admits the co-op has tested its shareholders’ patience and she can’t ask them to hold on any longer.
The forecast payout for the 2018-19 season is in the range of $6.50 to $6.90/kgMS.
She says forecasting a payout in a commodity market is very difficult especially with the market turbulence caused by US President Donald Trump and Britain’s plan to leave the EU.
Brendish says when setting the forecast price they don’t only take into account the GDT price; that’s just one tool and others must be noted. Some countries are getting higher prices by not selling through the GDT system, she says.
Reflecting on the past season, Brendish says WMP has made massive improvements. When she joined the co-op two years ago she received extensive feedback about the state of WMP and the low payout. But this time she’s had no phone calls or mail about the payout. She puts this down partly to the co-op’s efforts to improve communication with shareholders.
“I am sure [the shareholders would tell you] they are disappointed with the payout for last season, and they should be because we are at the low end of the range. But we know that even at $6.07 it is well above break-even.
“That is still not enough, we don’t pretend it is enough and I am not naive to think people are happy because they are not.”
But with the season off to a good start in milk flow, the correcting of mistakes, new personnel and strategy and determination to produce more value-add products, Brendish is confident the days of low payouts are over and the co-op is heading in the right direction.
OPINION: This old mutt well remembers the wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth by former West Coast MP and Labour Agriculture Minister Damian O’Connor when Chineseowned Yili took over the troubled dairy company Westland Milk a few years back.
Westland Milk has reaffirmed its commitment to pay farmer suppliers 10c above Fonterra farm gate milk price for the following two seasons.
Not all milk processors in New Zealand are struggling; just look at Westland Milk Products on the West Coast.
Dairy farmers supplying Chinese-owned Westland Milk Products in Hokitika had another reason to celebrate this holiday season.
"I'm more positive now than I was two or three months ago." That's the view of Richard Wyeth, chief executive of Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products (WMP).
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
