Milk Powder Prices Prop Up Farmgate Milk Price
Milk powder prices are keeping farmgate prices up, helping processors offset the dip in milk fat prices.
A strong financial performance for Tatua paved the way for the farmgate payout. This included group operating revenue of $286 million and earnings before tax of $121.1 million in 2014-15. This actually equates to $7.73 per kgMS but the Tatua board has announced a pre-tax retention of 63 cents per kgMS for reinvestment in plant and its value added business strategy.
Tatua's gearing ratio (of debt divided by debt plus equity) increased from 25% to 36.4% after the installation of a new specialised powder dryer.
Milk volume was also up with suppliers producing 15.7 million kgMS compared to 13.2 million kgMS in 2013-14.
