High Dollar No Problem For Dairy Industry
NEW ZEALAND - The dollar climbed to another post-float high at the weekend, but record dairy prices have dairy farmers sitting pretty compared with other commodity exporters.
23 July 2007
1 minute read
But AGInvest chief executive Andrew Watters said the exchange rate had become almost irrelevant to dairy farmers as global prices stayed high.
"Over the next two to three years, irrespective of where the dollar is, dairy should do very well," he said.
"Normally at a (US) 80 cent-dollar we'd expect to be crying in our cups, but the strong demand and change in supply dynamics have really hit through."
However, the exchange rate was stripping billions out of primary export sectors like sheep and beef and fishing.
Meat and Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Peterson said lamb, beef and wool prices were expected to rise this year but not by enough.
"The high exchange rate erodes these prices to less than last year in New Zealand-dollar terms," he said.
Source: Stuff.co.nz
