A milk supporting the local dairy chain [News Oceania n°1/2017]

Period: December 26, 2016 – January 6, 2017

Since 2011, a number of super markets in Australia have offered packaged milk at $2 Australian dollars for 2 liters (about 1.39€ for 2 liters).
Since the price paid to the farmers was below production costs, the independent grocer group Harris Farm Market recently stopped this offer, and decided to directly contract with a cooperative for milk, sold and marketed as supporting the local dairy industry. Harris Farm Market stated that the milk supplier are “farmer-owned cooperative processors who are transparent about their farm gate price” .
This milk, with a higher butter fat content, sells for $2.29 Australian dollars for 2 liters, and the retail grocer group returns 95% of the sale price to the dairy cooperative.

MILK PRODUCTION

• Australia *: -10.29% (Jul – Oct 16 vs. Jul – Oct 15)
• New Zealand *: -3.03% (Jun – Nov 16 vs. Jun – Nov 15)

BUTTER (82%): prices are slightly higher at the bottom of the range. Buyers are finding availability tighter.

CHEDDAR CHEESE: prices are slightly higher at each end of the range. Buying interest was slower during this holiday period, but the few buyers in the market tended to want to complete transactions.

SMP: prices firmed. This is partly a result of some processors moving some milk away from SMP production into WMP.

WMP: prices are weaker at the top of the range. A factor is the higher production of WMP.

The negative GDT outcomes are attributed to the timing being early in a short holiday week resulting in fewer buyers participating, which resulted in lower demand.

CLAL.it – Latest GDT event results (January 3, 2017)

Note: · Assessments about market trend are expressed in US$; · * Dairy season: July, 1st – June, 30th (Australia), June, 1st – May, 31st (New Zealand).

Source: USDA summarized by the CLAL Team

More informations about milk production in New Zealand and Australia are available on CLAL.it