Federated Farmers and Fonterra in industry talks

“Given the current outlook for dairy commodities, the first meeting this year between Federated Farmers and members of Fonterra’s Board and senior management has taken on even greater importance," says Lachlan McKenzie, Federated Farmers Dairy chairman.

“With a majority of New Zealand’s dairy farmers adjusting to lower payouts, lower share values and squeezed margins, what Fonterra does is vital for our collective future.

“Federated Farmers Dairy members have expressed concern on a number of issues. There is much to discuss, including Fonterra’s strategy, the GlobalDairyTrade auction platform, the level of stock inventory and ascertaining the latest on Fonterra’s capital structure.

“The dialogue Fonterra and the Federation has is very important. As well as ongoing informal dialogue, it is important to engage formally with Fonterra. The Federation’s priority is the interests of our members. While we made some progress at the meeting, we still have much work to do and will be meeting again over the coming weeks,” Mr McKenzie concluded.

This meeting, the first for 2009, forms part of a regular liaison between the world’s largest dairy exporter and Federated Farmers. The meeting was held in Auckland on Monday and comprised Lachlan McKenzie (Federated Farmers Dairy chairman), Conor English (Federated Farmers Chief Executive) and members of the Federated Farmers dairy executive. Fonterra was represented by Henry van der Heyden (Chairman), Malcolm Bailey (Director), Andrew Ferrier (Chief Executive) and Managing Director of Fonterra GlobalTrade, Kelvin Wickham.