Australian Dairy Farmers Corporation steps up farmgate price

With record farmgate prices, it was thought a step up wouldn’t happen this spring. But with five days to go, one processor is moving.

Australian Dairy Farmers Corporation have stepped up the price paid to its suppliers, one of the first processors to step up this season.

While late spring was often a period of price movement from Australia’s big three processors - Bega, Fonterra and Saputo - the 2022-23 financial year kicked off with record prices paid at the farmgate.

As a result, few had offered any change to pricing until today’s announcement by ADFC management.

Backdated to July 1, an average of $9.90 a kilogram of milk solids will be paid to ADFC suppliers across the 2022-23 financial year.

Segmented into six-month payment periods, the price paid stands at $9.50 a kilogram of milk solids between July and December 2022, while $10.30 a kilogram of milk solids will be paid from January to June 2023.

In early July, the big three processors offered unprecedented step ups in the first fortnight of the 2022-23 season.

At the time Fonterra, Saputo and Bega were all offering at or near a $9.40/kg milk solids average — about $2/kg higher forecasted figures in February and March.