Farm-gate milk prices lift producer prices

The prices received by dairy cattle farmers (up 28%) and paid by dairy product manufacturers (up 22%) were key influences to the increase

“Higher farm-gate milk prices contributed to the September 2016 quarter rises,’’ Statistics New Zealand business prices manager Sarah Williams says.

The forecasted farm-gate milk prices for milk solids rose to $5.25/kg in mid-September 2016, this compares to $4.25/kg in May 2016.

If farm-gate milk prices had remained constant during the September 2016 quarter, both producer output and input prices would have risen 0.3% in the quarter.