Fonterra has been slapped with a $150,000 fine for breaching disclosure requirements to the NZX over the botulism false alarm last August.

Liam Dann asks, "How worried should we be about the slump in global dairy prices? After all these years, NZ is still a giant grass-processing factory and milk remains the lifeblood of our economy."

The ink is barely dry on Fonterra's milk price forecast for 2014/15 and there are already signs that it could be revised downwards.

Signs of normality returned to the dairy sector yesterday when Fonterra forecast a $7 a kg farmgate milk price for 2014-15.

Dairy farmers can expect to see a drop in the milk price to around $7 a kg of milk solids .

Infant formula firms that claim to have lost millions as a result of Fonterra's botulism scare were told they were not victims - and denied a chance to have their say.

Dairy giant Fonterra's attempt to suspend the legal action it is facing from French food company Danone over last year's botulism scare is due to be heard in the High Court in June.

Alan Fitzsimmons still gets a buzz out of opening up new markets for Fonterra after more than two decades selling New Zealand dairy products to the world.

Dairy product prices have kept falling in the latest overnight, falling 2.6 per cent to 14-month low, paced by whole milk powder.

Fonterra has come to a compelling realisation it will need to develop "Chinese feet".

Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings has centralised control of the company's Chinese farming hubs into a new standalone business unit to make faster progress growing its milk pools in China.

A judge who fined Fonterra $300,000 over the events leading to last year's botulism scare says New Zealand's reputation as an exporter was "shaken" by the incident.

Fonterra Australia has been selected as the preferred supplier to process Woolworths "Own Brand'' milk in Victoria for the next 10 years

A substantially lower payout from Fonterra for 2014/15 looks likely after international dairy prices dropped sharply at yesterday's international dairy auction, economists said.

Prices have plunged nearly 9 per cent in the latest overnight global dairy auction. It is the fourth consecutive fall in prices, with average prices falling 5.2 per cent on March 18.

New research has stoked the health and nutrition controversy over "A1" cows' milk.

Fonterra's farmer members will be offered two opportunities to lock in the price paid for a percentage of their milk in the 2014/15 season.

Fonterra has posted a 53pc drop in interim net profit as high dairy commodity prices hit the dairy co-op's margins.