新西兰英语 287 Dairy Farmers feel hopeful
Fonterra said today that the 11,000 dairy farmers in their co-operative will receive an opening price of $6.60 a kg of milk solids for the 2010 / 2011 year. They will also get 30c to 50c for each share they have in the company. In fact, the price could go as high as $8 a kg if demand for New Zealand’s milk products continues and if the exchange rate stays much the same. Listen to August 26th 2009 and January 25th 2010 for background to Fonterra.
There is strong demand for milk powder from China, other parts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. This is partly because of the recession in the US and poor weather in Europe and Australia.
Parts of New Zealand have also had weather problems, especially drought. It hasn’t rained for months in some areas. However, in the last week we have had heavy rain throughout the country with some farms flooded.
In spite of this, dairy exports are 29% higher than this time last year and for the first time in eight years, money from our exports is more than the cost of imports. Dairy products are on the top of the export list with wood in second place.
About 95% of NZ’s milk products are sold overseas so we have to pay more for our milk, butter and cheese also. At the moment, milk is around $3.30 a litre in the supermarkets but it will go up by an extra 10c a litre in July.
Questions to think about
Should Fonterra be forced to sell milk at a lower price in New Zealand?
Will higher prices for dairy products mean that more sheep farmers will decide to go into dairy farming instead?
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