New Zealand milk production forecast to fall in 2023 - GAIN report
The national herd is slowly declining
3 November 2022
1 minute read
By: New Zealand milk production is forecasted to fall slightly in 2023, according to a recent USDA GAIN report. Although milk prices are at extremely high levels and expected to remain elevated, a number of issues are limiting the production response. This includes a slowly declining national herd, and also that on-farm inflation is expected to remain high as a result of the weak NZ dollar impacting imported input prices, as well as strong global fuel prices.
In addition, a 'three-peat' of the La Niña weather pattern is already forecasted, and similar patterns during the last two seasons resulted in prolonged dry conditions in regions that represent over 60% of the national dairy farms.
