International dairy prices look likely to head lower at this week's GlobalDairyTrade auction, according to futures market pricing.

Fonterra says its milk collection in New Zealand for the 10 months to March 31 reached 1431 million kg of milk solids - 1 per cent higher than for the same period last season.

Units in the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund fell to their lowest point since listing on the NZX in 2012 on the back of growing farmer and investor unrest.

Dairy product prices declined in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, led by a slump in prices for butter milk powder and whole milk powder.

Almost 2000 people are being viewed as persons of interest in the investigation into the threat to contaminate infant formula with 1080 poison.

The dairy industry can weather the prospect of increased production from the EU once quotas are lifted on April 1, says the chief executive of the farmer-funded DairyNZ.

Economists expect Fonterra to stick with its $4.70 per kg farm gate milk price forecast for 2014/15 when it reports its first-half result tomorrow.

All of the samples of infant formula tested by police after being suspected of possible tampering have tested negative for 1080.

Authorities are no closer to saying if the threat to poison baby formula with 1080 was a hoax, or who wrote the blackmail threats - even with 30 staff on the case.

Police are testing infant formula after a number of tins were found with pin-pricks in packaging lids.

Farmers will be looking to Fonterra's dividend to at least partially offset what is likely to be a low farmgate milk price this season after dairy prices fell by 8.8 per cent.

Just when you thought it was safe to venture into the dairy market, prices drop by 8.8 per cent.

A partnership with Beingmate Baby & Child could begin boosting Fonterra's branded infant formula sales in China this year.

A report into New Zealand's meat industry has come out heavily in favour of a single co-operative business model similar to Fonterra's to deal with decades-old issues of overcapacity and too much....

Market sentiment at tomorrow's GlobalDairyTrade auction will be tested following the revelations last week of a threat to the food safety of New Zealand infant formula, says ANZ.

Dairy giant Fonterra will purchase an 18.8 per cent stake in Chinese infant formula maker Beingmate Baby & Child, slightly less than the 20 per cent shareholding it was aiming for.

This time, with the threat made by some nasty individual to poison baby formula with 1080, it certainly seems like Government and industry efforts have been much better co-ordinated.

Peters’ thunder stolen but timing of 1080 revelations wasn’t deliberate, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Dairy companies are confident security measures at their facilities are tight enough to prevent a 1080 contamination.

Fallout from this week's baby formula contamination threat weighed heavily on the New Zealand dollar yesterday, with news of curtailed orders from China driving the currency lower still.

The Government was right to say nothing until discreet inquiries had failed and there is a chance a public appeal might help police catch him. The interval appears to have permitted the industry to be well prepared.

Dairy exports may already be stuck on Chinese wharves as a result of a new import requirement that products be tested for 1080 contamination, says an industry group.

Police have been contacting known 1080 opponents in a bid to find the person behind a threat to contaminate New Zealand's baby formula stocks.