Tuesday, 15 November 2022 08:55

New capital structure a step closer

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Fonterra chair Peter McBride. Fonterra chair Peter McBride.

Fonterra chair Peter McBride hopes the Government reaches a decision on its new capital structure before the end of the year.

As 100 Fonterra farmers gathered for its annual meeting in Rotorua last week, the primary production select committee released its report on the legislative changes to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA).

McBride says it's another key milestone in the legislative process.

"We remain hopeful that the Government will reach a decision before the end of the year, after which we will move to the Flexible Shareholding structure as fast as possible."

In the past few years, the co-op has moved its strategy away from a global-volume play to a focus on deriving value from sustainable New Zealand milk.

McBride says that strategy is starting to deliver - as demonstrated by this year's milk price and earnings performance.

"Our customers are at the heart of our strategy.

"We will achieve our performance targets by continuing to deliver products to market in a way that meets their changing expectations."

McBride told the meeting that 73% of global consumers find sustainability pledges important when buying dairy products.

He says it's great news for a co-op that's strategy is focused on New Zealand milk and being a leader in sustainability.

"New Zealand dairy farmers already have the world's lowest carbon footprint.

"If we can maintain that advantage, we have an excellent opportunity to build mutually beneficial relationships with our premium customers.

"Maintaining a sustainable supply of that New Zealand milk, in an environment where we expect the country's total milk volumes to decline, has been a key priority for board and management over the past few years."

More like this

Featured

National

DairyNZ Farmers Forum underway

Over 300 farmers and rural professionals have gathered in Hamilton for the first DairyNZ Farmers Forum for this year.

Machinery & Products

Shearing legend hooked on CanAm

Sir David Fagan, world-renowned competitive sheep shearer with 642 shearing titles worldwide and a knighthood to his name, now runs…

50 years of tractor pull

This year, the Fieldays Tractor Pull, in association with PTS Logistics, mark a major milestone – 50 years of crowd-thrilling…

The Wrangler's birthday bash

It's the Wrangler Limited’s 30th birthday and to celebrate the milestone a prototype of the E Series Wrangler - a…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Free speech

OPINION: The Free Speech Union is taking this one too far.

Drug survey

OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter