DRY CONDITIONS: Dry conditions are continuing to hurt Australian milk production.
Australian milk production continues to fall, despite higher milk prices in a number of regions this season.
Australian milk production continues to fall, despite higher milk prices in a number of regions this season.
The first lot of figures from Dairy Australia for season 2019-20 reveal a continuation of the trend from last season with production down 8.4 per cent in July compared with the same month last year.
Tasmania – which was one of the few bright spots in 2018-19 – has had a poor start to the season with production there down 14.0pc.
South Australia, which had bucked the trend last year, also suffered a big drop – down 13.0pc.
The tough drought conditions are continuing to bite in Queensland (down 13.3pc) and NSW (down 10.6pc).
High water prices and the impact of herd culls are hitting production in northern Victoria, which was down 11.5pc for July.
Falls in Western Australia (down 2.9pc), eastern Victoria (down 3.2pc) and western Victoria (down 6.4pc) were lower than the national average.
The figures for July were released by Dairy Australia on Friday – just a week after it released the 2018-19 season figures, which were delayed as it was forced to revise previously released reports after discovering additional data for northern Victoria and southern NSW.
Australian milk production in 2018-19 was 8.8 billion litres, down 5.7pc from 9.3 billion litres the previous year.
Dairy Australia said it anticipates a further drop in national milk production of 3-5pc to 8.3 to 8.5 billion litres during the current 2019-20 season, due to continued high input costs and the reduced size of the national herd.
Source: farmonline.com.au
