Banks pick $8.40 milk price for new season
With just over two weeks left in the 2023-24 season, all eyes will be on Fonterra's opening milk price for the new season.
Raboresearch's Emma Higgins notes that this month's weak whole milk powder result was extremely interesting.
She says this was because for the second time in one month, Fonterra dropped the amount of dairy product available at coming GDT Events.
WMP volumes were scaled back by a significant 20,000 tonnes (spread across GDT auctions over the coming months). SMP was also pared back by 6,000 tonnes, while AMF offerings were lowered by 750 tonnes for GDT events over upcoming auctions.
Higgins says these changes now mean that the next few GDT Events will have the lowest volumes of WMP available for this time of the year since 2016 - at a time when historically both product on the GDT and in the milking sheds are ramping up.
Chinese buyers were still very much present at this GDT auction - but evidently wanting to pay lower prices, she notes.
"While this was the lowest absolute volume of product Chinese buyers have procured for this time of the year since 2017," Higgins says. "They still purchased two-thirds of the WMP available. SEA/Oceania buyers took home around one quarter of available 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.
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