New Zealand’s milk production remains under pressure

The end of 2022 means we have a full calendar years’ worth of milk production for New Zealand, even though this measure is somewhat irrelevant for the seasonal nature of NZ milk, this data point is key in gauging how NZ milk production is tracking overall. For the full 2022-year, milk production, in a kilograms of milksolids (kg MS) basis was 3.5% lower than the year prior, and 3.8% lower on a tonnage basis. This 3.5% equates to 66,181,000kg MS, or that 3.8% equates to 835,000 tonnes of production. It is clear that milk production in NZ remains under pressure. This full-year production figure comes after the December production figure printed positively, at 0.6% higher than the year prior, with this 0.6% equating to 1,209,000kg MS more for the month. With the weather conditions through November rapidly shifting from a wet, cold and dreary spring to a warmer and wetter start to summer, there was little doubt that December’s production figures would easily challenge the season’s ...