News Milk & Food
Record month for New Zealand milk supply
Milk production in New Zealand rose to a record high for the month in May, with dairy farms delivering 8,3% more milk to factories than in May last year.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
New Zealand's milk supply in May totals 993.000 tonnes, a month that is 4% higher than the five-year average.
Milk production in New Zealand traditionally drops sharply in May, as winter sets in. It also marks the end of the 2024/25 milk season, which runs from 1 June to 30 May. Milk production over the entire past milk season was over 21,6 million tonnes. This is almost 2,4% more than over the 2023/24 season.
Dairy farmers have been encouraged to milk a little longer, with the successful Fonterra maintaining a base milk price of NZ$10 per kilo of milk solids (the combined fat and protein content of milk, on which milk prices are based rather than per litre of raw milk) for the past season. This is the highest milk price ever.
In addition, the month of May in New Zealand was relatively warm and wet, which are favourable conditions for the growth of pasture grass. Also, the so-called PKE import of New Zealand, this stands for residual products from palm oil production, from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia has increased sharply. Dairy farmers use these products as additional roughage to maintain milk production.