Westland Milk Products has announced a final milk payout for the 2007/2008 season of $7.99 per kg of milk solids.
That's 1 cent behind Tatua, which has announced its suppliers will receive eight-dollars per kilo of milk solids, with the company retaining 37c per kg of milksolids for re-investment.
Westland Milk Products is the second-biggest dairy co-operative in New Zealand. Tatau, which is based in Waikato, is the third.
Fonterra's final payout sits at $7.90; of which 24c per kg of milksolids will be retained.
Westland Milk Products acting chief executive Hugh Little, says the company will retain 30c per kg of milksolids for re-investment, which is a steep climb on last year's retention of 10c per kilo.
The company is forecasting a payout of between $6.70 - $6.95 per kg of milksolds for the 2008/2009 season.
However, he warns that these projections may go down,
