Tatua Final Milk Price $12.42/kgMS, Outlook Positive

In a joint statement, Tatua's outgoing chair Stephen Allen and chief executive Brendhan Greaney say the co-op's largest capital investment in history - an $85 million Foods II project - will help meet demand for a range of cream-based UHT products.

"Tatua enters the new financial year with a positive outlook," they say.

"Additional capacity from Foods II is expected to assist in meeting demand in selected specialised product areas, while the co-operative continues to assess growth opportunities carefully.

"The board and management remain focused on maintaining a sound balance between current shareholder returns, ongoing reinvestment, and the financial strength required to support Tatua's longer-term plans."

The co-operative announced a final milk price of $12.42/kgMS for the 2025-26 season.

The co-op achieved total earnings of $13.93/kgMS, of which $1.51/kgMS was retained to support future growth and resilience.

Trading conditions across international dairy markets were mixed during the year. Although market pricing was broadly supportive, performance varied by product and region, with some customers affected by economic uncertainty, changing trade patterns and geopolitical disruption.

Tatua's diversified range of products, markets and customer relationships helped moderate these impacts.

Allen says the co-op's specialised nutritionals and foods & flavours businesses both achieved record revenue levels, building on long-term investment in product development, technical expertise and close customer partnerships.

The ingredients business, which is more closely linked to commodity dairy markets, also made a solid contribution to overall earnings.

During the year, several projects were advanced to support ongoing business performance, including work across manufacturing infrastructure, site reliability, environmental initiatives, business systems, and people capability, the company says.