increase font size
Lino Saputo Junior.
Australia's new dairy kingpin is urging co-ops in Europe and New Zealand to rein in milk production and help stamp out price volatility.
Lino Saputo Junior, the chairman of Canadian dairy giant Saputo, told the Australian Dairy Conference this morning that co-ops have to show more leadership on this issue.
He urged co-ops to follow milk consumption patterns around the world.
“To improve the economics of dairying we need some leadership at the co-op level in the US, Europe and Oceania whereby they are not adding capacity and in order to fill that capacity they are urging suppliers to increase their milk production.
“Because somewhere along the line you will try to sell those solids (milk solids) and if you can’t sell those solids the prices will be depressed,” Saputo Junior says.
“And if prices are depressed you can’t pay a high price for those solids; it’s very simple.”
Saputo is a listed dairy processor with annual sales of $12 billion. It owns Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Company in Victoria since 2014 and is seeking regulatory approval to buy troubled Australian co-op Murray Goulburn.
If the MG sale is approved, Saputo will leapfrog Fonterra and become Australia’s biggest milk processor.
Saputo Junior noted that Canada has a milk supply management system with very little price volatility.
He says milk suppliers need to be protected from price volatility.
“I’m hoping somewhere along the line there will be some common sense and some discipline that comes into this industry from the major co-ops in the US, Europe and NZ.
“Ultimately they must look at the best interest of the supplying community; first and foremost
“And if they do that effectively then the economics will be much better in the system; there just has to be the right balance.”
ANYTHING GOOD for Australia is in the long run good for New Zealand. That’s the reaction of Trade Minister Tim Groser to the news that Australia has signed a free trade agreement with China, and to speculation that their FTA with China is better than NZ’s, especially regarding dairy products.
Dairy farmers in the Australian state of Victoria had a record profitable 2022-23 season, thanks to high milk prices and carefully managed high costs.
OPINION: A mutilation mystery is playing out on a remote Central Queensland property in Australia after a number of cows were found dead in inexplicable circumstances.
A shrinking milk pool in Australia is forcing major processors, including Fonterra, to outbid each other and secure farmer suppliers for the new season.
OPINION: News that the Labour Government is spending taxpayer money to advertise to New Zealanders living in Australia that life is better there now they can get citizenship is appalling.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
