Late run lifts hopes for Fonterra suppliers

Fonterra suppliers will today find out whether the record end to the dairy season will bump up their final payout figure.

The co-op - which has revenue of more than $12 billion and accounts for 20 per cent of New Zealand's export returns - gives its results for the season and the final payout figure this afternoon.

Fonterra had record sales of 316,000 tonnes of dairy ingredients in May - the first time it had sold more than 300,000 tonnes in a month.

That announcement followed news that after a strong late season run, Fonterra dairy farmers set a record in 2005/06, producing 1.21 billion kilograms of milksolids.

In June, chairman Henry van der Heyden said that, despite the production record, it still looked likely farmers would get $4.07 a kilogram of milksolids for the season - down 52c/kg on the previous year.

But it is possible that the strong export performance and the weaker dollar could produce a pleasant surprise.

Waikato Federated Farmers president Peter Buckley said some farmers were expecting another 3c or 4c a kilogram - which could amount to several thousand dollars' worth of extra income depending on the performance of individual suppliers.

"I think there's a good chance that they could possibly come up with a little bit more," said Buckley.