increase font size
OPINION: According to media reports, the eye-watering price of butter has prompted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to ask for a 'please explain' from her former employer Fonterra.
Dairy is the country's largest export industry; but recent figured from Stats NZ show domestic butter prices have surged 65% and some people are struggling.
Surely, Willis will understand that global supply problems and high demand for New Zealand's products are driving local prices higher.
About 95% of New Zealand's dairy products are exported, which means the international market determines domestic prices.
It is a double-edged sword, where high prices are good for the country's economy but tough for domestic shoppers.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
OPINION: Finance Minister Nicola Willis could have saved her staff and MBIE time and effort over ‘buttergate’ recently by not playing politics with butter prices in the first place.
OPINION: There is zero chance that someone who joined Fonterra as a lobbyist, then served as a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand, doesn't understand that local butter (and milk and cheese) prices are set by the international commodity price.
DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown has waded into the debate around soaring butter prices, pointing out that the demand for dairy overseas dictates the price to farmers and at the supermarket.
OPINION: Will synthetic milk derail NZ's economy?
Ravensdown South Island shareholders have voted Jane Smith to the co-operative board for a three-year term.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
Academic and former Fonterra director Nicola Shadbolt has been elected as LIC director.
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan has announced his plans to retire in June 2026, marking 43 years of service to the New Zealand wine industry.
It's 100 years for the Hoban family’s Parham Hill Corriedale stud and times continue to change.
Farmers want the Government to scrap controversial freshwater rules that "put river spirits and ideology ahead of practical water use", says Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…
