Fonterra gets Kiwi boost

NZ production lifts while dry bites Oz

AUSTRALIAN agribusiness might be struggling under the weight of drought but over the ditch a spell of good weather has given milk production a boost.

Dairy producer Fonterra has seen its New Zealand operations increase milk supply by 5 per cent in August, putting it down to ideal weather conditions.

The dairy giant had reported a 4 per cent dip in its Australian milk production in July, on account of higher farm input costs and bone-dry conditions across large swaths of the nation’s east and south. Some areas have recorded less than a fifth of their typical rainfall in the last three months.

Dairy exports from both nations rose in July, up 6 per cent in NZ and 4 per cent in Australia, Fonterra said in a statement yesterday.

But international milk prices fell 1.3 per cent in September as volumes on the global dairy trade increased.

The next auction on the GDT will take place October 2.

Drought was also a contributing factor in the plummeting share price of chemical and fertiliser company Nufarm, which posted its lowest price in more than three years yesterday as it resumed trading after a $238 million capital raising.

Shareholders took up about 90 per cent of their entitlements, the company said, at the offer price of $5.85 per share in an institutional entitlement offer. Its institutional shortfall bookbuild clear price was $6.35 per new security, a 50 cent premium to the $5.85 offer price.

Nufarm expects to raise another $65 million in a retail entitlement offer on Thursday.

Last week the company announced a $15.6 million fullyear loss on the back of drought-related impairments, and the cost of acquiring crop protection products from Europe.

Shares in Nufarm closed at $6.05 yesterday.