Troubled Canterbury milk processor Synlait and its key stakeholder and customer a2 Milk Company (a2MC) will enter 2024 with a growing list of disputes.

Global dairy prices have retreated and reached usual averages, but farmers shouldn’t expect a repeat of milk payouts of the past two seasons.

Following the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction overnight, dairy prices are now sitting at their highest since June.

BNZ's latest Rural Wrap report shows lamb prices for mid-November 2023 tracking around 25% below 2022 levels.

While warmer than average temperatures are expected across most of the country until Christmas, commodity prices are showing a somewhat more stable outlook for the season ahead.

NZ's red meat exports dropped to $615 million in October - a 14% drop on the same month last year.

Recent rains are almost the last straw for sheep and beef farmers in Tairawhiti.

A $7-plus milk price for this season is almost locked in, claims ASB economist Nathaniel Keall.

It's now official, in the coming year the value of NZ's dairy, meat and forestry exports will be down significantly - with horticulture holding its own.

Synlait's majority shareholder Bright Dairy of China has thrown its support behind the Canterbury milk processor as it recovers from several years of poor run.