NZ dairy farmers hit as China demand dries up

Sydney

WHEN China lost much of its appetite for imported milk powder this year, farmers 11,000 kilometres away in New Zealand went into a tailspin.

New Zealand supplies about two- thirds of the whole milk powder exported internationally, and China is its biggest customer. Shipments were down 65 per cent in the first five months of this year, the US Department of Agriculture said this month, and prices globally are the lowest since 2009.

That's contributed to a plunge in farm-gate milk prices that may make most of New Zealand's 12,000 dairy farms unprofitable this season, said Con Williams,…