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Dairy prices hold steady as buyers secure forward cover
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Forestry conversions slow but three-hundred-thousand hectares already lost
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Government holds ETS settings to deliver market stability
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Dairy prices hold steady as buyers secure forward cover
Global dairy prices were virtually unchanged at overnight's Global Dairy Trade auction, with the GDT index edging up just point-one percent as buyers focused on securing forward cover ahead of anticipated supply uncertainty later in the year.
Whole milk powder lifted point-two percent and skim milk powder rose one-point-two percent, with buying concentrated in October and November deliveries — a sign buyers are locking in product ahead of the year-end holiday period. Cheddar was the standout, up three-point-eight percent.
Butter and anhydrous milk fat continued to ease, down two-point-three percent and point-eight percent respectively, reflecting abundant global fat supplies.
North Asia dominated buying, taking thirty-eight percent of all product sold — up from twenty-seven percent at the previous auction.
Volumes were notably higher, with forty-thousand-five-hundred tonnes sold compared with just under twenty-seven-thousand at the previous event.
Forestry conversions slow but three-hundred-thousand hectares already lost
The conversion of sheep and beef farms to forestry has slowed, but Beef and Lamb New Zealand says the cumulative loss of productive land is now approaching three-hundred-and-thirty-thousand hectares since 2017 — roughly six times the size of urban Auckland.
New research by Orme and Associates confirms an additional thirty-thousand hectares of whole sheep and beef farms were sold for forestry since mid-2025, bringing the running total to nearly three-hundred-and-thirty-thousand hectares since January 2017.
While the peak years of 2021 and 2022 saw nearly sixty-four-thousand hectares converted annually, around twenty-seven-thousand hectares a year could still be converted under current ETS restrictions — a rate Beef and Lamb New Zealand says is unsustainable.
Chair Kate Acland says if that pace continues, New Zealand could lose a million hectares of productive pastoral land by 2050, with serious consequences for rural communities, employment and food production capacity. More than two million stock units have already been lost to afforestation since 2017.
Beef and Lamb New Zealand says it supports farm forestry integration — but whole-farm conversions at this scale are a different matter.
Government holds ETS settings to deliver market stability
The Government is maintaining existing Emissions Trading Scheme settings through to 2031 — one year longer than previously planned — to provide market stability and certainty for participants planning ahead.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says a stable ETS is key to delivering the emissions reductions needed to meet New Zealand's targets, and the decision aligns with advice from the Climate Change Commission.
The current auction floor price, cost containment reserve price and reserve volume of New Zealand units will all be extended to 2031. A number of minor regulatory changes will also be progressed, with all changes taking effect from January first next year.
Agriculture remains outside the ETS under current Government settings.
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