Agsafe Weekly Rural Report
Finance: The NZ exchange rates were steady to slightly firmer over the week finishing marginally above the previous week. Brent Crude remains steady below $70/barrel. Watch your fuel prices!!
Wool: Wool prices are steady but at a low unsustainable level. Not much happening with wool yet!!
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: Sheep & cattle meat schedules are steady with strong international demand for grass fed red meats. The US beef herd is at 73 year low. Venison schedules are up.
Dairy Prices. Dairy prices remain strong. Animal welfare and environmental issues are restricting production and growth in European countries and NZ can capitalise on these many issues provided we produce premium milk.
You can hear us live on the radio on Monday morning at 7.35 am with Brian Kelly on Country Sport Breakfast – Radio NZ Gold AM. 792 AM in the Waikato & 1332 AM in Auckland.
Jim’s Weekly Rant:
It is another week with many issues worthy of comment, but some can wait as they fester away in the background. The issue that seems to have consumed all of NZ over the last week has been the price of butter and Nicola Willis’s management of the “scandal” that has evolved as we learn how the farmers are ripping off all New Zealanders!! I was appalled at the TV 1 news reporter Mikey Sherman pursuing Mile Hurrell, Fonterra’s CEO, on Tuesday’s news, their reporting hit an all-time low only to be followed up on Thursday with the reporter asking Miles to declare his annual salary and suggesting it was $4m. The behaviour of Sherman was similar to that of a journalist pursuing some mad pedophile and their barrister outside a court and I am sure most Fonterra suppliers are more than happy with whatever Miles gets paid!! Then there were the hours of talkback radio, and I listened to some late on Tuesday night while driving from Hamilton to Matamata and back. The callers seemed to have no knowledge of even simple business or economics and the radio host did little to help other than allow the nonsense to continue. Even Nicola Willis, the Minister of Finance, seemed devoid of basic economic sense and understanding as she was sucked into a discussion where she seemed to want to appease a group of howling lefties unaware of how and where food is produced. Her promise to meet with Miles Hurrell to “sort-it-out” was either a sop to the opposition or a genuine lack of knowledge about an industry she once worked in. Minister Willis has lost credibility with a large sector of the productive population, and even the PM didn’t appear to be dampening the debate. The whole butter discussion should never have become an issue if the right people with a knowledge of farming and food production had made a statement on day 1. The farmers I have spoken to over the week are frustrated and annoyed as the butter discussions escalated. Farmers have been barely breaking even in recent years and now with the possibility of a reasonable profit they are being attacked by a socialist media and the lefties. The tax that will be generated in the rural sector in the next 24-months will be welcomed by everyone as the government will have some money to spend on infrastructure, health and education and even support the unemployed Greenies – so don’t knock the price of food. But more importantly the people of NZ need to understand over 90% of all the food produced in NZ is exported and the prices we pay are driven by international pricing structures and demand. The international price for butter is $US7,550/ton which is around $NZ12,500 or $12.50/kilogram ($5.67/lb), so $10.50/500 gm block isn’t too bad as the Supermarket and transporters all need to make a margin. And just to give a bit of encouragement, wait until the current wave of beef animals start hitting the market as export beef schedules are already 30% up on the same time last year and likely to go higher as the USA’s beef herd is at a near record low and the cost of importing soya stock foods from Brazil has suddenly gone up with the Trump Tariffs. Calf prices are nearly double those of a year ago and the beef farmers are anticipating increased prices. Eat well while you can afford to and for some, get out there and get a job!!
Contact AgSafe NZ Ltd - Phone 027-2872886. We can prepare your Work Safe manual and hazard management plan at a very competitive price. We can arrange drug tests and farm maps for your property.