John Stevenson: Fonterra Co-operative council chair on dairy prices increasing, Fonterra predicting record high farmgate milk price midpoints

The dairy sector's upbeat heading into the new year. 

Dairy prices are up 1.4% at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, while Fonterra's still predicting farmgate milk prices to reach a record $10.50 midpoint this year. 

New Zealand's milk production in 2024 was also the highest in five years. 

Fonterra co-operative council chair, John Stevenson told Ryan Bridge it's looking really positive from an on-farm perspective. 

He says supplementary feed supplies, silage, and crops have had a good start to summer. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it is a good time to have a milkshake.
It's a good time to be a dairy farmer right now.
Production is up, prices are up, the dollar is down.
In this morning, the latest dairy trade option price is
up one point four percent at the GDA, So that
is good news overnight. After a shaky start to the year,
it would seem we're back on track. John Stevenson, Fontera
Cropative Council chairs with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
John, Good morning, Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
How are you feeling about that result?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I think it's really positive news. As you mentioned in
your intro, we've seen a couple of slides, so good
to get back on track see some positive numbers, and
in particular that that whole milk powder price, You know,
that's really good news for us with farmers and our
economies we operate on.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, because it's dropped the last two options, that whole
milk powder price, but it's still the highest it's been
in two years.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Right, Yeah, it is, and it is a really good
news story and I think sort of important to put
it in context. We've sort of a long road to
home and many more GDT options to come up on
a milk price won't get confirmed until September this year,
but it is positive news and good to see that
that trend reverse.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, I mean, obviously everyone's been talking about north of
ten dollars. You'll still be hoping for that. It would
I mean, would this sort of merry up with that?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Is it too early to say.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
That there's a decision for Fonterira in the border from Tierra,
but certainly, you know, what we're seeing is really really
strong signals and I think you know, from a farmer's perspective,
we've seen big on farm inflation in the last couple
of years. You know, on the milk price, dairy farmers
would have made a loss last year. So a good
margin this year, if it eventuates, will allow us to

(01:37):
catch up on the food maintenance and invest a fear
a bit of that money back into our local economies.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
What's driving that production? That uplifting production up to one
point four percent year on here, it's above the five
year average.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
It's been a really pleasing season growth wise, So we've seen,
apart from south On, a really kind spring and a
good start this summer drawing off in a couple of
places now, which which is not unexpected, but that you know,
those those supplementary feed supplies for silage bankers and the
crops have had a really good start. So you know,
it's looking really positive from that on farm perspective going forward.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Farmers worried because we asked the government about this and
they say, oh, well, we don't know. We just don't know.
We'll have to wait and see. But you know, most
of what Fontira producers is exported. A farmer is worried
about Trump and the tariff threat.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
It's I suppose that's sort of by the buyer for us. Well,
we'll keep producing our milk and expecting Fontier to sell
it at the highest possible Madge, and I think as
a farmer, we've got one hundred worried Ryan, and that's
that's one of the ones that we can't control. So
we just keep our heads doin and focus on what
we do, try and increase their productivity, trying to try
to produce the best possible milk we can and and

(02:48):
we'll lead the selling up to Fontier.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Good on your John, keep it up. The economy needs that.
John Stevenson, Fontier Cooperative Council Chair, for more from the MIC,
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