Dairy Industry

Dairy Industry

Postby winston » Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:23 am

Vested in Austnutria

Surging Milk Prices Add to Case for N.Z. Commodity-Led Recovery By Tracy Withers

Whole milk powder prices rose to an eight-month high, adding to signs that demand for one of New Zealand’s biggest commodity exports will underpin an economic recovery this year.

Powder prices gained 7.6 percent from two weeks earlier, reaching the highest since June 1, according to auction results published today by Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest dairy exporter. A broader index of 17 export commodities rose for a fifth straight month in January to a record, ANZ National Bank Ltd. said yesterday.

New Zealand’s dollar climbed to the highest this year as traders bet stronger exports, which make up 30 percent of the economy, will prompt the central bank to raise interest rates later this year. Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard last week said he expected higher overseas sales of milk, meat and lumber will boost incomes and spending.

The currency traded near the highest level since November, buying 78.06 U.S. cents at 11:36 a.m. in Wellington from 77.56 cents in late Tokyo trading yesterday.

‘Strong’ Support

Bollard last month kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3 percent and said it would be “prudent” to wait for stronger growth before raising borrowing costs. Five of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News expect an increase in June. Seven forecast the first move in the third quarter.

Average milk powder prices for delivery in April rose to $3,794 a ton, according to the results of Auckland-based Fonterra’s latest GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Prices have risen 13 percent since Dec. 1 amid increasing demand from Asian buyers and as New Zealand declared droughts in Northland and in the Waikato province, which is the nation’s biggest milk-producing region.

Higher Payments

On Dec. 10, Fonterra, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global trade in butter, milk powder and cheese, raised its forecast payment to farmers by 4.5 percent, citing international prices.

Fonterra sells whole and skim milk powder and dried milk fat at its fortnightly Internet-based auctions. It offers one- month contracts with delivery starting two months after the sale, and two three-month contracts with delivery starting three and six months later.

Whole milk powder for delivery from May through July rose 5.5 percent, Fonterra said. Powder for shipment from August through October increased 0.5 percent. Across all contracts prices gained 5.7 percent.

Concerns that New Zealand’s North Island may fall further into drought have eased after significant rainfall in the last month, Agriculture Minister David Carter said Jan. 25. The impact won’t be as severe as first thought in December, when some provinces -- including Waikato, the nation’s biggest milk- producing region -- were declared medium-level drought zones.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-0 ... aland.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Milk Powder

Postby winston » Thu Feb 03, 2011 3:38 pm

China milk powder demand leaves shelves bare

China food safety concerns and a strong currency are prompting a flood of Chinese parents to sweep supplies of milk powder from Hong Kong shop shelves, triggering citywide shortages.

Two years after the melamine-tainted milk powder scandal hit mainland China and made nearly 300,000 children sick, problems have continued to undermine Chinese public confidence including the seizure of over 100 tonnes of tainted milk powder last year.

Such entrenched product safety concerns have fuelled rapid growth in whole milk powder imports to China, which nearly doubled to an estimated 340,000 tonnes in 2010, making China the world's largest market for such infant formula.

A lucrative and booming parallel market has emerged in southern China, with Hong Kong's high quality and regulated infant formula brands proving popular with Chinese parents streaming across the border to sweep up stocks, leaving shelves bare for popular brands.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

"As a parent, of course we hope our children are healthy so a little inconvenience is worthwhile," said Chinese mother Wang Lan, who was buying six tins of Holland-made Frisco milk powder in the Hong Kong border town of Sheung Shui that has become a hot spot.

"Those who are able to come will often come across to buy now," Wang added.

Grey market traders have also piled into the trade, employing mules who are regularly seen on the streets of Sheung Shui, shuttling boxes of formula up north by train on trolleys where they're sold for a large mark-up profit.

The rise in China's currency, the yuan, against the US-dollar-pegged Hong Kong dollar, has also made the city's products relatively cheap.

"Even if we get one hundred boxes (of milk powder), I'm honestly telling you, within two or three days I can sell everything," said Alan Kwok, who runs a small dispensary in Sheung Shui.

"There are a lot more people snatching milk powder from Hong Kong," Kwok added, saying sales had surged 40% this year.

The shortages have sparked a tide of complaints from Hong Kong parents, who've had to scour stores for increasingly scarce tins in recent weeks, forcing some, in extreme cases, to feed their babies bread or noodles instead.

Several hundred parents recently launched an online petition calling for explicit curbs including the implementation of a milk powder tax for those taking Hong Kong milk powder into China.

Some major brands, like Mead Johnson Nutrition , have now pledged emergency measures. Elaine Chow, an employee with the firm in Hong Kong, said it was setting up an ordering hotline for parents and would release an extra 420,000 tins of formula in the next two weeks to meet demand.

"They (the milk powder brands) should have adequate experience to handle this emergency situation," Connie Lau, the head of Hong Kong's Consumer Council, said.


http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/china-milk ... 69?ref=rss
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Milk Powder

Postby winston » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:19 pm

Related News:China .China Milk Imports Forecast Strong, Dairy Group Says
By Wendy Pugh

China’s whole milk powder imports are likely to “remain strong” this year, after surging in 2010, helping to underpin global prices, Dairy Australia said.

Domestic dairy production in China was struggling to keep pace with demand growth and there was a preference for imported product that’s considered safer, Joanne Bills, strategy and knowledge manager at the Melbourne-based industry group, said.

Whole milk powder prices rose to an eight-month high this month, according to auction results published Feb. 2 by Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest dairy exporter.

New Zealand is the biggest supplier to China, where economic growth and rising incomes are boosting consumption of agricultural commodities including dairy products.

“That sort of demand, even though we are not servicing it directly, does keep the international market in tight balance,” Bills said by phone after the group released a report on the industry outlook today.

Australia, the second-largest dairy exporter after New Zealand, ships infant milk formula to China.

Average milk powder prices for delivery in April rose to $3,794 a metric ton, according to the results published earlier this month from Auckland-based Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade auction. Prices have risen 13 percent since Dec. 1.

Buyer Resistance
“Global market prices are firming, driven by steady global demand and limited global supplies,” Dairy Australia said. “However prices are approaching buyer resistance levels.”

China’s imports of whole milk powder increased to 414,000 tons last year, up 68 percent on 2009, Dairy Australia said, citing data from China’s customs authority.

Milk powder produced in China has previously been found tainted with melamine, a toxic chemical, killing at least six infants in the country in 2008.

“In other key markets in Asia we’re also expecting import demand to be fairly strong given that internal production is down and they need to import more product just to maintain consumption,” Bills said.

Australia may produce 9 billion to 9.1 billion liters of milk in 2010-2011, Dairy Australia forecast, down from a September outlook of 9.1 billion to 9.2 billion liters and little changed from 9 billion liters a year earlier. Limited cattle supply may curb expansion next year even after improved conditions in some regions because of rain, Bills said.

Cuts to milk prices by Australian supermarket operators were a “disappointing signal given the strength of the international market,” Bills said. Drinking milk sales through Australian supermarkets account for around 13 percent of national output, according to the industry group

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-1 ... ate1-.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Milk Powder

Postby winston » Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:38 am

China Dairy Producers

Small dairy firms face closures
Tuesday, March 29, 2011

More than a fifth of mainland dairy producers are set to lose their licenses after inspections aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2008 tainted-milk scandal, state media reported.

The product safety watchdog, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, ordered all licensed firms checked to restore consumer confidence in the industry.

The nation's dairy sector was rocked in 2008 when at least six children died and nearly 300,000 others were sickened after consuming milk products laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

Since then, repeated cases of melamine adulteration have thwarted official efforts to restore the sector's reputation.

"Dairy producers who failed to pass the quality inspections will be forced to shut down," a spokesman for the watchdog told China Radio International.

The Dairy Association of China said 20 percent of the nation's roughly 800 licensed dairies will likely be forced out of business, the China Daily reported, adding that these represent just 10 percent of the market.

Most affected will be smaller firms that cannot afford upgrades to meet the tighter safety standards, the paper quoted industry analysts as saying.

The safety watchdog ordered dairy firms in November to acquire equipment that can test for 64 additives, including melamine, which can make milk appear richer in protein but also can cause severe kidney damage.


Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

http://thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.a ... 10329&fc=2
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Milk Powder

Postby winston » Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:19 pm

Milk Powder Prices Slump to Lowest in More Than a Year at Fonterra Auction

Whole-milk powder declined to the lowest in more than a year as escalating concerns that global economic growth may falter reduced demand.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-1 ... shows.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Milk Powder

Postby winston » Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:20 pm

China Struggles to Meet Surging Demand for Dairy

The average cow in China produces just 4,000 to 4,600 kilogrammes of milk per year, one third of the standard yields in the West, according to Ezra Shoshani, an Israeli specialist who advises Chinese producers.

Despite a major safety scandal in 2008, China’s demand for milk is surging as people grow wealthier, but the country’s poorly kept and often undernourished dairy herds are struggling to keep pace.

Source: AFP
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Dairy Industry

Postby winston » Sat Feb 11, 2012 4:21 pm

Synlait to sell majority farm stake by Annette Scott

Canterbury dairy producer and processor Synlait is negotiating to sell up to 70% of its holding in Synlait Farms, with potential for the near 5000 hectares of prime irrigated Canterbury dairy farmland to be sold to offshore buyers.

Meanwhile Synlait Milk manufactured infant formula has hit the supermarket shelves in China with Bright Dairy launching the new "Pure Canterbury" product in Shanghai in December.

Shanghai is the testing ground for Bright Dairy's super premium infant formula. The retail price per 900g can ranges from NZ$92 for stage one infant formula to NZ$84 for stage three infant formula.

"It typifies the value consumers in China are willing to pay for formula produced and packaged in NZ. It is little wonder that Bright Dairy is investing 20 million yuan on the advertising and promotion of Pure Canterbury over the next 12 months," Synlait Milk chief executive John Penno said.

Pure Canterbury infant formula is expected to achieve sales of 3-4 billion yuan in the next three to five years through direct sales.


http://www.nzfarmersweekly.co.nz/article/9198.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Dairy Industry

Postby winston » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:47 pm

Milk Price Slumping as Record Profit Spurs Expansion of Herds: Commodities

Record dairy profits and milder weather are leading to a surge in milk supplies from Auckland to California, turning last year’s best-performing commodity contract into one of the worst of 2012.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-1 ... ities.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Dairy Industry

Postby winston » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:51 pm

Milk Powder Slumps to Lowest Since 2009 on China Concern By Phoebe Sedgman

Whole-milk powder prices tumbled to their lowest level since 2009 on concern purchases from China, the world’s biggest buyer, may decline as favorable weather boosts global supply.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-1 ... ncern.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Re: Dairy Industry

Postby winston » Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:29 pm

Milk-Cow Drought Culling Accelerates as Prices Jump: Commodities

U.S. milk production is headed for the biggest contraction in 12 years as a drought-fueled surge in feed costs drives more cows to slaughter.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-0 ... ities.html
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
User avatar
winston
Billionaire Boss
 
Posts: 118528
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:28 am

Next

Return to Business Sectors & Industries

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests

cron