Fonterra Shareholders' Council welcome review on raw milk rules

Fonterra Shareholders’ Council Chairman Simon Couper has welcomed the announcement from David Carter of a review of raw milk regulations.

Couper said the Agriculture Minister’s decision would be well-received by farmers and provides an opportunity to amend aspects of the current raw milk regulations.

“Review of the raw milk prices has been a long time coming and given the noises they have been making, farmers want to be heavily involved in the review process, said Couper.

“This has been a contentious issue for many years and we expect our farmers to take this opportunity to be heard and influence a much needed change in policy.”

Under the current system Fonterra is obliged to sell up to 600 million litres of milk a year to competitors at a regulated price. This has been an irritant with many in the dairy industry claiming the system lends itself to abuse at the hands of foreign-backed processors.

“We’re not seeking to insulate ourselves from competitive pressures. Our intent is to stop the abuse of the system by producers who take our product and profit offshore giving no benefit to New Zealanders.”