Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand's (DCANZ) latest data shows that milk production for September 2015 was down to 209.5 million kilograms of milksolids (kg MS), a reduction of 16 million kg MS on the same period last year. When measured on a tonnage basis, the drop is similar. Milk production by tonne has fallen 7.5% to 2.545 million tonnes.
September is the start of New Zealand's peak production season. A reduction of this size at this stage of the season is not promising for the rest of the year. Fonterra has said that its milk intakes are likely to be down 5% this season – at this stage it looks to be a realistic forecast.
Cumulative milk production for the season (June-September) is down by 3.6% reaching 358.3 million kg MS. Total milk production for the 2014 season was 1890 million kg MS and at the end of September 2014 almost 20% of season's milk had been produced. At this time in 2014, cumulative season-to-date milk production was up 6.1% on the previous year.
