Key points for the fortnight ending 21/02/2014 include:
- Further decreases in milk powder prices drove a 4% fall in the GDT Price Index at this week’s GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) auction (event 111).
- Fonterra last week announced an increase in its forecast 2013/14 farmgate milk price to NZ$8.65/kg MS (around $8.01/kg MS in Australian terms).
- Murray Goulburn (MG) has ramped up its communication with suppliers on the co-operative’s plan to establish an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed unit trust.
- Bega Cheese Limited (BGA) has announced to the ASX that the company’s subsidiary Tatura Milk Industries (TMI) has received a position paper from the ATO stating that TMI was not a co-operative for tax purposes over tax years 2009-2011—and so owes another $13.3 m in tax.
- The Australian federal government’s primary agricultural research body, ABARES, is forecasting world dairy prices to hit higher average levels in 2014-15.