Milk powder ends up as stock feed

Press, 22 October 1984, Page 1

Milk powder ends up as stock feed

From. ROY VAUGHAN in Kyoto Some 46,000 tonnes of New Zealand skim-milk powder ended up as stock feed in Japan last year because of the world dairy glut. It accounted for about 41 per cent of New Zealand’s total dairy exports to that country. It is an indication of the problems the Dairy Board has been experiencing marketing its products throughout the world in the face of dumping by the United States and European countries. Japan, is one of New,. Zealand’s most important’

dairy markets and the main outlet for cheese exports, but the board, In a paper to the Japan-New Zealand Business Council conference, has called for a concerted campaign to boost cheese consumption in Japan. That market is now worth 365 million a year to New Zealand, and New Zealand as the largest overseas supplier has a one-third stake in Japan's total cheese market. In its dealings with Japan, the Dairy Board acknowledges it is fortunate that the Japanese Government has controlled its own domestic dairy production and thus avoided the surplus problems created by American and European dairy farmers. The president of a main Japanese dairy company, Nosawa and Company, Ltd, Mr Shinichifo Mosawa, said New Zealand exporters faced intensified competition in the short-term because Japan is one of the few markets not to impose quantitative restrictions. “The long-term issue will be the establishment of a constant supply structure in such volume as hoped for by New Zealand, while attempting the co-prosperity of New Zealand aqd Japanese dairy farmers,” he said. To achieve this it would be necessary to encourage more Japanese people to drink more milk.