As May arrives so does more rain especially in the south and some pastures have utilization and pugging issues managers will be wary of.
Growth rates are now back to late autumn early winter levels as more and more cows get dried off and move to winter feed.
Big numbers of boner cows are now being sold at Temuka as the land use changes appear at the saleyards and farmers cull inefficent cows and replace with younger superior animals with better genetics.
Calving covers need to be worked out now and feed budget planning organised so the new season starts with plenty of covers for the new milking herd.
The suggestion of an end of year party seems a good one so that staff can celebrate what went well this year and set new goals for next.
Advisers are warning managers they should take care in grazing new pastures as good husbandry and weed control now, will develop strong growth for years ahead.
New infant milk formula rules introduced by China have put many smaller companies at risk for future trade with that country but focused those that were successful on the importance of food safety with their product.
Synlait is the largest company to miss the rule changes but are confident once they finish updating their canning capacity, trade to this important market will resume.
Auction prices fell again on increased volumes but commentators suggest the bottom is near although with the currency stubbornly high Westland has already lowered the payout forecast to $7.60-$7.90/kg ms and Fonterra may do the same.
Oceania prices have eased with the auction and now all commodity products except cheese are at yearly lows as increased world production affects price levels.
French dairy giant Danone has bought into New Zealand’s milk processing sector by buying two existing companies, one in Auckland and one in Balclutha as they look to secure and grow their Nutricia infant formula business.
The Dairy NZ levy vote is before farmers who will decide whether they renew funding to this organization that has extension, research and environmental responsibilities for the dairy sector.
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17 Comments
there is another point of view:
It is little short of a national disaster that Chinese consumers now rank New Zealand dairy products as less safe than those of Australia, Canada, the United States and Europe.
China's open market for infant milk formula came to a juddering halt on May 1. Just how juddering became apparent this week when a New Zealand official told our exporters that his Chinese counterparts had backtracked on an earlier assurance that all formula produced before May 1 could come into the country in the interim.
Only six of New Zealand's 13 milk formula manufacturers have gained registration
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11252236
Kimy, I think you might be projecting local issues onto the international stage unless you also want to blame Cunliffe for the bans to the U.S., Japan, U.K., etc.
http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2014/05/07/stricter-chinese-food-qua…
I think in part it is because it has been established as a New Zealand - China story and the news has been feeding off itself. It is a bit like when you see news stories saying "NZ dollar rose sharply against the U.S. due to [internal NZ event]" then you find the Australian dollar and the Euro rose as well.
I certainly know I've had a hard time tracking down clear sources on who is in or out, so possibly the NZ media are in the same boat of having nothing to report until someone else translates and contextualises the information.
true, but news about the USD being driven down doesn't sell any advertsiing space in New Zealand.
And it would require a reporter in New Zealand to actual think about the cause of an event (thus making it hard to get past a safety editor - "dollar went up" is provable... "because the USD fall on fundamentals" could be considered conjecture and someone might sue/complain.
Being sued doesn't sell advertising space either.
And anyway most New Zealand are just happy their dollar is going up which will get them more purchasing power...but most don't realise, for international trade many countries have to buy in AND sell off USD as an intermediary currency which significantly reduces the advantage...
I absolutely acknowledge the importance of personal relationships in China. However, I think you are vastly underestimating the Chinese food safety crackdown. It is like being out in a cyclone and you are talking about what someone with an umbrella can do.
Britian via Hong Kong has far more special friends than New Zealand, and far more of the wealth of China's super rich is parked in London than New Zealand. There have been absolutely no embarrassing media stories originating in the UK about China in the past few months, nor political attacks connected to China. But China has just banned all British Cheese exports over the food safety at a British cheese factory that does not even export to China.
ex odt 4 eg
However, the continued strengthening New Zealand dollar had led the bank [Westpac senior economist Anne Boniface] to shade down its payout forecast for the current season from a milk price of $8.65 to $8.50. For now, it was sticking with its $7.10 forecast for the 2014-15 season, she said.
ASB has revised down its 2015 season farmgate milk price forecast from $7.80 to $7.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/301488/forecasting-stabilised-dairy-prices
This weeks breaking news is all about Meadow Fresh aka the Goodman Fielder Dairy assets.
(Meadow Fresh is a leading New Zealand dairy brand, which originated in the South Island as the creation of the South Island Dairy Farmers Co-op.)
Continuing on from the “You’ll never take us alive” strategy from management when existing shareholders (read ultra long suffering) looked to buy the joint (one would assume with ongoing requirement for existing management).
Now this week Paramalat has been flushed out as one of the 20 or so groups interested in joining the Party/feast/carve up.
So we have existing shareholders, Wilmar and Fund based in HK, and Paramlat being French (part of Lactalis). Lactalis is a multi-national dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. It is the largest dairy products group in the world…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactalis
Paramalat had been Italian, until an upset (below)
It’s been dubbed “Europe’s Enron” – the saga that has engulfed Italy’s milk-processing giant Parmalat and its senior executives, blue-chip European and American banks, accountancy firms, politicians and 130,000 hapless small shareholders following the discovery in 2003 of a $14bn black hole in its finances.
http://www.worldfinance.com/home/special-reports-home/the-parmalat-scandal
So (in no order)
Long story short, are we thrilled by industry assets being clipped into supply chains directed by faceless corporates/non-corporates. And govt. trade resources/effort being expended by those same benefit?
And question if team NZ/NZ Inc cannot/will not operate local industry assets – whats the point.
Whats to the thinking/point of view held by the vendors of Suttons/Gardian?
- what are we missing here?
thanks to AJ
Danone Nutricia set to acquire NZ infant formula operations
By Mark Astley+ , 02-May-2014
Danone subsidiary Nutricia looks set to add additional infant formula manufacturing and packing capacity to its existing operations in New Zealand through the acquisition of two firms.
Seems last year Sutton were looking for capital and Danone approached them then.
One can see how such would give litigation confidence in cutting Fonterra ties..
Well done our financial system for funding boom industries.. (boomed?)
The odd comment was from New Zealand Food and Grocery Council
This is great news for the industry and for New Zealand's infant formula manufacturing capacity (how so we would ask).
Having such a renowned multinational company purchasing two NZ firms to ensure it has a major infant formula local manufacturing facility affirms once again that New Zealand's dairy industry remains among the best and safest in the world (saving us we don't think so and some help we don't need - see below)...
China:
Turkey:
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for The Independent found that Danone has been marketing its formula milk product Aptamil in Turkey by suggesting mothers with six-month old babies might not be providing enough of their own milk to meet their children’s needs. The episode has echoes of the baby milk controversies of the 1970s, which led to the international boycott of Nestlé,
India:
French dairy company, Danone, has become embroiled in claims that its Nutricia India baby nutrition business has approved its sales representatives to make illegal payments to doctors. The Indian Infant Milk Act prohibits anyone involved in the baby nutrition industry from offering financial inducements or gifts to health workers.
http://www.fieldnotes.co.nz/international/nutricia-quite-indian-doctor-bribery-claim/
french mistake never, wave it thru boys...
"Having such a renowned multinational company purchasing two NZ firms to ensure it has a major infant formula local manufacturing facility affirms once again that New Zealand's dairy industry remains among the best and safest in the world "
I don't think it's normal mushrooms the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council are having for dinner.
How does undercutting our locally owned and supported Fonterra by selling competion power to aggressive foreign ownership help New Zealand or New Zealand diary in anyway or form?????
maybe they think any $ settlement ex Fonterra will fund the equity to buy the other Suttons business ....
we are struggling to see how a French company has anything to add in trade between China and NZ.
Historically/politically the first country has form with the others.
for background on IFM and UHT see the Corilois descriptive presentations
http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/food-beverage/information-project/#2014
infant formula (Danone's further acq of assets)
http://nzpecc.org.nz/media/f3c9cc3577fc96acffff80caffffd502.pdf
UHT (of which Meadow Fresh (Goodman is local leader)
http://nzpecc.org.nz/media/f3c9cc3577fc96acffff80cbffffd502.pdf
Re IF, presentation comments:
Infant formula is a tough industry, with strong barriers to entry, undergoing consolidation; China is the main exception, but signs there point to a rapidly normalising playing field The action of the french would seem to take asset control and supply chain control away from local interests, but also lock local interest out of the China market. i.e. NZ Inc lost the EBITDA margins (say 29%) of the assets located here. one answer could be have assets held in NZX.com listed company - to have transparency of supply chain margin/invoicing vehicle tricks.
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