MD_DA120 Oceania Dairy Market Overview Report 17 - Released on April 25, 2019 AUSTRALIA: Dairy industry leaders in Australia have been speaking out to urge dairy producers to strive to increase milk production. The overall trend during the last decade or so has been lower milk output in Australia; the Australian population has grown during the same period. Concerns being voiced are that milk production increases will better buffer a potential need for Australians to import more dairy products as a matter of necessity. Of course, hard times in recent years have caused some cooperatives to close, which had stressful financial impacts for some producers. Weather and other factors have led some producers to reduce herd size, or to leave farming. Farm credit has become harder to get and more expensive. That has also taken a toll. Limited supplies of new season hay are available in Northern and Southern Australia. With quantities limited, more expensive hay is still being transported from other regions. Many producers are stressed by hay prices coming off the hot and dry season. Government subsidies remain available to help producers through this difficult period. NEW ZEALAND: Very severe dry weather has arrived in New Zealand, especially the North Island. This has noticeably impacted milk production. Many herds are now being dried off early in response. The overall season is still expected to yield more milk than last season, as most of the seasonal milk has already been produced. But it increasingly appears the season which began with a bang, may end with a whimper. March 2019 New Zealand milk production reported by DCANZ was 1.713 million MT, down 8.2 percent from March 2018 milk production, 1.867 million MT. March 2019 milk solids, 161.433 million kg, are down 7.5 percent from March 2018, 174.572 million kg. Discussions have continued as to concerns among directors of a large dairy cooperative that milk production growth will likely be slower in coming years. Environmental factors such as water availability and heightened concern with reducing gasses are significant factors. Information for the period April 15 - 26, 2019, issued biweekly Published by: Dairy Market News - Madison, WI Eric Graf, 608.422.8590 Email: Eric.Graf@usda.gov Additional Dairy Market News Information: Dairy Market News (DMN) by Phone: (608)422-8602 DMN Website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/dairy DMN MARS (MyMarketNews): https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/