DAIRY Australia has released its annual Situation and Outlook report, which points to high confidence in the future of the industry among dairy farmers and a growth in Australian milk production of about 2.5 per cent.
Speaking at the recent University of Sydney Dairy Research Foundation symposium at Camden, Dairy Australia managing director Ian Halliday told delegates it was pleasing to see good levels of farmer confidence given it contributes to the overall success of the industry.
“Every year we go and survey 1000 dairy farmers across the country and we ask farmers about how confident they are in the future of the industry,” Mr Halliday said.
This year’s results from the National Dairy Farmer Survey showed 74 per cent of farmers felt positive about the future of the industry, reflecting a similar mood to last year, while 79pc of farmers expected to see a profit for the current season.
According to the Situation and Outlook Report, 52pc of those surveyed had increased milk production and 41pc had increased their herd sizes.
Mr Halliday said the report also demonstrated positive trends for the domestic dairy industry.
“From a domestic perspective, this year nationally, we will probably see at least 2.5pc volume growth.”
As a point of comparison, national volume growth for 2013-14 was just 0.4pc.
The report highlights total production is set to be in the vicinity of 9.45 to 9.50 billion litres.
“From a consumption perspective, we do see ongoing consumer demand and increased consumption,” he said.
“Just on milk volume alone we see about a 1.5pc increase in consumption – and that is quite rare in developed countries; in other developed countries, like the US and UK, consumption is on the decline, milk is under threat from other beverage products.”
He said 55pc to 60pc of the milk produced in Australia has sold domestically.
Globally, consumption was still strong, with strong demand out of Asia, China, the Middle East.
Source: Queensland Country Life
