Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
2 SEPTEMBER 2015
Dairy Price Spring Reflects Lower Volumes And El Nino Fears
The first GlobalDairyTrade auction for September will put a spring into the step of farmers but reflects Fonterra
reducing volume, the product mix sold, a much lower New Zealand dollar and growing fears of a serious El Nino drought.
“The volume being sold at this auction was about 38% less than at the same auction in 2014,” says New Zealand First
Leader and Member of Parliament for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“We are talking 22,000 metric tonnes, so rationing and a change to the product mix being sold is having an effect as
predicted.
“A lower NZ dollar is helping export returns and confirms what New Zealand First has repeatedly said about the danger of
the dollar being kept high to benefit consumption and not production and exporting.
“However, we believe an even greater factor is growing fears of an El Nino drought and what that will mean for global
dairy supply. The World Meteorological Organisation is warning that a building El Nino could well become one of the
strongest on record.
“The last big El Nino drought over 2007/8 cost our dairy sector alone $1.5 billion. That drought helped to tip New
Zealand into recession at the same time the global financial crisis was emerging.
“An El Nino drought on top of the parlous state of dairying and growing issues within the red meat industry will be
catastrophic for provincial New Zealand. The government was in a position to build vital regional infrastructure and
thereby offset the worst of the impact. Peak added value and marketing policies have not been optimised and there will
be a serious price for that failure.
“National is so bereft of sound economic management that it will continue to focus myopically on Auckland to the
detriment of wealth creating export producing regions. This will become sadly another ‘we told you so’,” says Mr Peters.
ENDS