Fonterra slashes forecast milk price, again
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.
Fonterra has announced senior management changes in its Asia Pacific Middle East Africa (APMEA) business unit, including the departure of the existing managing director APMEA and the appointment of a new managing director for Australia.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says a new leadership team has now been confirmed for APMEA, effective June 1. It includes a new managing director Australia, Judith Swales, who joins Fonterra after leading Heinz across Australasia and before that the Goodyear Dunlop Business in Australia.
"Judith has considerable experience in delivering business turnarounds across a number of industry sectors, with a great understanding of consumer, customer and operations which will be critical in our Australian business," says Spierings.
With the new management team in place, Fonterra's managing director APMEA Mark Wilson had indicated his intention to leave Fonterra.
The new APMEA leadership team includes:
• Managing director Australia, Judith Swales.
• Managing director ASEAN, Juan Carlos Pestana, who is currently head of Fonterra's Latin American JV with Nestle.
• Managing director ISMEA (Indian Sub-continent, Middle East-Africa), Alan Fitzsimmons, who is currently general manager of Fonterra's Indo-China business.
• Managing director New Zealand, Peter McClure, who is currently in this role.
• Director commercial, Malcolm Smith, who is currently chief financial officer for Fonterra's ASEAN- Middle East North Africa business.
• Director marketing, Chris Augustijns, who is currently chief marketing officer for Fonterra's ASEAN-Middle East North Africa business.
• Director operations & supply chain, Joe Coote, who is currently optimisation director for Fonterra's NZ Milk Products division in New Zealand.
• Director people, culture & services, Garry Mudford, who is currently leading the SAP implementation across the Australia-New Zealand business unit of Fonterra.
Spierings says Wilson has made an important contribution to Fonterra, leading sustained growth in the cooperative's Asian and Middle East consumer businesses over the past five years.
Most recently, Wilson has overseen the creation of the new APMEA business unit which will drive synergies and scale across Fonterra's consumer businesses: "It has been a big undertaking and with all the key management now in place for APMEA Mark has decided due to some family health matters that the time is right for him to leave the cooperative, which he will do at the end of April."
Fonterra has started a search for a replacement for Wilson.
Dairy prices have jumped in the overnight Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction, breaking a five-month negative streak.
Alliance Group chief executive Willie Wiese is leaving the company after three years in the role.
A booklet produced in 2025 by the Rotoiti 15 trust, Department of Conservation and Scion – now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute – aims to help people identify insect pests and diseases.
A Taranaki farmer and livestock agent who illegally swapped NAIT tags from cows infected with a bovine disease in an attempt to sell the cows has been fined $15,000.
Bill and Michelle Burgess had an eye-opening realisation when they produced the same with fewer cows.
It was love that first led Leah Prankerd to dairying. Decades later, it's her passion for the industry keeping her there, supporting, and inspiring farmers across the region.
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imports into the US is doing good things for global trade, according…
Seen a giant cheese roll rolling along Southland’s roads?