27 Mar 2012

Dairy restructuring bill tabled in Parliament

3:00 pm on 27 March 2012

Legislation that would require Fonterra to publicly disclose information about its milk price setting has been tabled in Parliament.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter says the bill aims to oversee the dairy co-operative's farm gate milk price setting and ensure a more transparent and efficient dairy market.

He says because of Fonterra's dominance in the New Zealand market, the price it pays its farmers for milk effectively becomes the default price that all dairy processors must pay to attract supply from farmers.

Mr Carter says the bill would embed Fonterra's current milk price governance amendments in legislation, and introduce an annual milk price monitoring regime to be undertaken by the Commerce Commission.