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  1. Simple reason for the sale. Fonterra does not have the finances to make the brands global. Not going global makes the brands nonviable (no distribution).

    So sell off the brands. Make some money for the shareholders whilst they still hold some value. Long term the brands have a diminishing valuation.

    It is easy to say keep the brands but much harder to have a notion how much time/effort/capital is required to achieve distribution against strong (and very large – think Nestle) competitors who have built up their distribution of a hundred years. AFFCO was an example of what trying to create international distribution channels that fail.

    Add that New Zealand needs to add a shipping cost and the margin numbers start getting pretty tight.

    The answer to lower local costs is local farming coop that have a dairy factory to make local produce (think Tatau, Westland, etc.). Farmers don’t have to supply Fonterra, they are free to form their own coops and make local milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt, etc.

  2. Totally agree, once you lose control…price takers not price makers.
    It all appears to be all too hard for the overpaid executives, much easier to stick with bulk milk powder & not have to innovate & add value.
    We haven’t really advanced much since the Dunedin sailed in 1882 with frozen mutton!

      1. enjoy your Argentinian butter blended in Vietnam – better get an electric can opener for those gnarly old arthritic hands old chap or be prepared to pay for the artisan boutique stuff because why would a global company keep operations going in this expensive shithole

  3. The share holders could not see past the tax free lolly scramble .An easy 400k dropped in to the bank account looks good for the week or so it remains there .A lot will be taken by banks to pay over draughts and loan arrears .A large local farmer was taken over and sold by the bank last year ,tey had been in business for decades but were still insolvent .That being the case this short term sugar rush might well save a few that are in the same boat .
    What will they sell next time they want a sugar rush and by the look of recent developments the selling price is sliding as other countries have ramped up supply .

  4. The issues involved escape most of the commenters,who obviously have no idea what they are talking about.

    1. The issues involved escape only you Bob obviously you have no idea what you are talking about.

  5. It’s interesting how most of our political leaders have been so quick to wash their hands of this decision. The idea that it’s simply the shareholders’ right seems a bit oversimplified, especially when the sale could have such widespread economic and social consequences. There needs to be more open discussion about the broader implications for New Zealand’s future.

    1. that would be communistic if the govt stepped in and the farmers would be rampaging in the street as they will when in 10 years time they are just peasant farmers as they re in Europe .

    2. More generally, neo-liberalism postulates the idea that individuals can make decisions which affect themselves only, or, if there is an effect on others, it is necessarily beneficial, at least “in the long run”.
      That is not true, it was never true, and it becomes less and less true by the day as human beings are increasingly caught up in a vast global web of social production.
      That might be thought relevant only to liberals of the bleeding heart variety except for this simple fact: the pain that you wittingly or unwittingly inflict on others comes back to bite you in the end. When the dairy factory closes and workers go on the dole their kids go wild, your daughter gets bullied at school because she still has nice stuff, and your quad bike gets nicked out of the yard by a bored teenager who is not in work and not in education. Even if the laid off workers stay honest and go to church every Sunday, they don’t have the money to buy your second hand Ford Ranger when you want to upgrade to a new one. So you suffer, maybe because there are all those bastards out there, or maybe because you agreed to selling off the dairy factory to a corporation domiciled on the other side of the world.

  6. When will it dawn that branded retail consumer products are not the only way to add value? Get off the grass and bypass the butter.

  7. You gordon should be forever grateful to the farmers of New Zealand without whom we would be third world.

  8. The Bullvine
    13 November at 04:39
    ·
    Lactalis just fired 270 French dairy families yesterday. https://bit.ly/4hWB8pl
    The same Lactalis that’s spending €11 BILLION on new processing plants.
    Let that sink in. The world’s largest dairy company—processes milk in 51 countries, owns 250 plants, makes Président cheese and Parmalat milk—just told 270 farm families their milk isn’t worth the diesel to collect it.
    But here’s what should scare every dairy farmer from Wisconsin to New Zealand:
    They’re not broke. They’re restructuring the entire industry.
    Their numbers tell the real story:
    → Profit margin on YOUR commodity milk: 1.2%
    → Profit margin on their premium yogurt: 20%
    → Investment in NEW processing: €11 billion
    → Investment in farm support: €0
    Those 270 French families? Some had been shipping to Lactalis for three generations. One farmer near Normandy told French media his grandfather started selling to them in 1947. Now his son has 18 months to “find alternative arrangements.”
    This is the template every processor is copying:
    I just got off the phone with a contact at another major processor (can’t name them yet). They’re running THE EXACT SAME PLAYBOOK:
    Cut small farms under 500 cows
    Demand 4.2% minimum butterfat
    Lock in mega-dairies with 10-year contracts
    Invest everything in component extraction
    Remember when Danone dropped 89 organic farms in 2022?
    Remember when Saputo cut 200 suppliers in 2021?
    Remember when Dean Foods went bankrupt in 2019?
    This. Is. The. Pattern.
    The math is brutal and it’s global:
    France: Only farms over 80 cows surviving
    Netherlands: 30% of dairies closing by 2030
    Canada: Quota system can’t save small farms anymore
    USA: 89% of small dairies unprofitable
    Australia: Processor consolidation accelerating
    While Lactalis cuts farm families, they’re partnering with precision fermentation companies. By 2030, they’ll be making “dairy” proteins in steel tanks for 1/5 the cost.
    Your milk won’t just be worthless. It’ll be obsolete.
    Three things happening RIGHT NOW:
    Component Segregation: Processors are building plants that ONLY take high-component milk. If you’re shipping 3.6% butterfat, you’re already on the cut list.
    Scale Elimination: That 270 farms Lactalis cut? Average size was 280 cows. Every processor has the same spreadsheet with YOUR name and cow count.
    Fermentation Preparation: Lactalis, Fonterra, Danone—they’re ALL investing in fermentation. They’re planning for when they don’t need cows at all.
    One of those French farmers posted this on Twitter yesterday (translated): “My father survived two milk crises. My grandfather survived World War II. I can’t survive Lactalis.”
    That hit me hard.
    Because it’s not about working harder. It’s not about being a better farmer. It’s about multinational corporations deciding your family legacy isn’t profitable enough.
    You’ve got maybe 18 months before your processor makes the same announcement. Not because milk prices are low. Not because there’s too much supply. But because they can make more money WITHOUT YOU.
    What’s your plan? Because “hoping it doesn’t happen here” isn’t working for those 270 French families today.
    And please, don’t tell me “it’s different here.” That’s what French farmers said too.
    Share this if you think farmers deserve to know what’s coming

    1. Thank you Christopher.
      We can only speculate about what lies ahead, but it is vitally important for us to know what is happening now, and what has happened over recent time. The New Zealand media has simply parroted the line coming out of Fonterra management and dismally failed to critique the case for the Lactalis sale, in much the same way that sees its role in reporting the Gaza genocide as being to uncritically repeat IDF disinformation.
      Fortunately we have people like yourself to help fill the information vacuum left by the official media.

  9. You had me until ‘reduced government revenue’. How much tax does Fonterra actually pay? Because you can be sure that they’re using every dodge in the book to avoid paying a fair share. So is it going to make that much difference?

    1. The workers in Fonterra processing facilities all pay income tax and GST. Of course the capital gains from the Lactalis sale are tax free, and I am sure that, like all corporates, Fonterra has ways of minimizing its tax bill. Capital avoids taxation, but workers in employment still pay tax. Workers out of employment are a drain on tax revenues. Thus there is a net negative effect on the government accounts from putting people out of work.

    1. WTF are you talking about – first cab off the rank will be Lactalis shutting down all local manufacturing and bulk shipping their cheap shit in from overseas and slappin an Anchor label on it – dumb fucking hobbit

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