DIRA Review: Open Country Dairy Warns Against Regulatory "Complacency"
The country's second largest milk processor is warning against 'complacency' during a review of competition regulations in the dairy sector.
Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson Willy Leferink says not one of the changes proposed to the DIRA by the Government will make milk any cheaper in the supermarkets.
He says some supermarkets are selling 2 litre milk at $3.
"At that price, it is identical to what Cole's has been selling milk for in Australia, once you take out our GST and exchange rate differences.
"What concerns me is that people seem to think farmers get all of the value from retail milk sales. I can tell you our share in a one litre carton of retail milk is around 360 millilitres.
"If someone's skimming the cream I'd suggest looking harder at the wholesale and retail ends. How come one supermarket can sell two litres of milk for $3 but another sells an identical bottle for $3.72?
"That's where the margins are, instead of the farmer who produce the milk in the first place."
Leferink wants more competition among supermarkets and processors.
"Precious few of the processors who take this milk, bottle it and then put it onto the shelves of supermarkets or dairies. Too few of these processors get milk from the farmgate and compete locally as they do internationally. We really need to know why," he says.
