Fonterra Australia has forecast a closing farmgate milk price for the 2016/17 season of $5.00kg/MS, with an opening farmgate milk price of $4.75kg/MS.
Fonterra Chief Operating Officer of Velocity and Innovation, Judith Swales, said that this was a responsible opening price that reflects current market conditions.
“Our forecast is based on the Australian dollar holding at around 74 cents to the US dollar and reflects the revenue we expect to earn on products produced using our manufacturing assets.
“Our farmgate milk price in Australia is also impacted by global dairy markets given our mix of domestic and export sales.
“While we are still seeing an imbalance between global milk supply and demand there are signs in key milk producing areas of a slowdown in production and increased imports into key markets such as China, Asia and Latin America. This supports our view of a recovery in global prices as we move through the season.”
Fonterra is focused on building on its Ingredients strengths by making Australia Fonterra’s global hub for cheese, whey, and nutritionals, complementing our Consumer and Foodservice businesses:
- In 2015, Fonterra commissioned a multi-million beverages plant in Cobden, creating over 50 local jobs,
- Construction is underway on the Stanhope cheese plant, on track for completion mid-2017,
- Signed new strategic agreements to fill Darnum, including Beingmate JV and Bellamy’s Organic,
- Investing in market-leading brands, including Western Star, Perfect Italiano and Mainland,
- Building on the early success of our newly launched Anchor brand in Australia, and
- Maintaining the excellent performance of our Foodservice business.