Thursday, 25 February 2016 08:25

$8 milk price will happen again

Written by 
We will see a $8/kgMS milk price again – but we will also see $4/kgMS again, says New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen. We will see a $8/kgMS milk price again – but we will also see $4/kgMS again, says New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen.

We will see a $8/kgMS milk price again – but we will also see $4/kgMS again, says New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen.

Market insight and intelligence will be very important in next months, he told an Agcarm conference in Auckland yesterday.

"We shouldn't be surprised by volatility – I have been talking about this for the last 10 years," Petersen said.

Just in time delivery by retailers is one influence. "Volatility is here to stay – we need to come to terms with it," he said.

New Zealand dairy is 30% of all cross border trade, and that is the first to be hit by volatility.

We need to be more resilient, Petersen said, and farmers should set their business up to be more resilient in the face of volatility. Nevertheless he said, the future is extremely bright.

Earlier Jacqueline Rowarth told the conference Beef and Lamb analysis showed we did not market – an example, Wales spend $57 per tonne of product – New Zealand, $11.

Failing to market food at premium quality is costing New Zealand producers dearly, she said.

More like this

Making Farming A Matter of 'Core National Resilience

OPINION: New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that farming and food production is a matter of ‘core national resilience’ and must be spoken about in Whitehall at the same level as issues with ‘defence, energy, water and steel’.

It's The Margins That Matter

OPINION: It appears to be difficult for people who haven’t tried to run a business to understand the difference between assets and cash.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

OPINION: In the 1980s, concern was expressed in West Germany about the falling birth rate. Some simple analysis was performed by Professor Helmut Sies, physician and biochemist at Dusseldorf University. His letter ‘A new parameter for sex education’ was published in Nature in 1988:

Hawke's Bay Needs Water, and the Numbers Prove It

OPINION: New economic modelling confirms what many of us in Hawke's Bay have long understood - getting water security right for this region is one of the most important decisions we face as a community. Not just for farmers, but for everyone who lives, works and builds a future here.

Featured

Editorial: No Small Challenge

OPINION: There could hardly be a more appropriate theme for a conference than the one chosen by the red meat sector - Navigating Volatility.

Alliance to Pay Up to $20m to Farmer-Shareholders

Alliance Group has confirmed that eligible farmer-shareholders who supply and continue to back the business will receive up to $20 million later this year, following the strategic investment partnership with Dawn Meats.

Election 2026: What Parties Promise the Primary Sector

With a general election under five weeks away, Rural News is asking major political parties about their policies and positions on key issues facing the primary sector. We will run their responses to each question over the next four weeks. The ACT Party and the Greens didn't respond in time.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter