WELLINGTON: The dairy downturn has cost DairyNZ about $1 million of farmer levy revenue in the past year due to a drop in milk production. The dairy industry body collects a levy from farmers of 3.6 cents per kgm, and about $67 million is usually collected yearly. The ABC has reported that Dairy Australia’s revenue dropped by 12 percent because of sudden milk price cuts in the past two months, and it could not rule out job cuts.
DairyNZ’s chief executive Tim Mackle said New Zealand production was not as hard hit as Australia because price cuts had taken about 24 months to drop instead of a couple of months. He said milk production in New Zealand fell 1.5 percent in the 2015/16 season, which is about $1 million in DairyNZ levy revenue. “Most people predicted we would have had a bigger drop than 1.5 to 2 percent down on milk volume but for many farmers it’s been a pretty good growing season, particularly post Christmas.
