Fonterra Results Positive News for New Zealand's Dairy Farmers

 The continued upward trend of the Global Dairy Trade auction on Wednesday, together with the positive earnings result from Fonterra should help dairy farmers feel more confident about the future, the organisation said.

Fonterra Co-operative Group has announced a 65 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $834 million for the financial year ended 31 July 2016.

The Co-operative is paying a Cash Payout of $4.30 for the 2016 season for a 100 per cent share-backed farmer, comprising a Farmgate Milk Price of $3.90 per kgMS and a dividend of 40 cents per share, on a total available for payout of $4.41.

Federated Farmers dairy group chair Andrew Hoggard says although the announcements don’t mean farmers will be seeing “cheques in the mail” any time soon, it does mean they can have confidence in the direction of the industry.

“Farmers own Fonterra, and today’s result shows our co-op is performing strongly on the world stage.”

It is particularly positive to see the cost-saving programme undertaken by the company has been effective and company debt has been significantly reduced.

“Fonterra’s profits are eventually returned to farmers, and are spent in the New Zealand economy, so this is positive news for all of us,” Mr Hoggard said.

TheCattleSite News Desk