Dairy giant Fonterra will reduce its domestic milk price from the end of the month and the savings look likely to be passed on to consumers at supermarkets. Fonterra froze the wholesale milk price for New Zealand after a public outcry last year.

A poll for the Michael Fay-led consortium trying to buy the Crafar farms shows an "overwhelming desire for the govt to stop in and stop the sale" to the would-be Chinese buyer, Pengxin International.

Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden is to step down next year after a decade in the job.

Average prices of dairy products resumed their slide in Fonterra's latest auction, the ninth decline in the past 10 sales and the first since the company cut its forecast 2012 payout.