National Freight Demands Study - Ministry of Transport

National Freight Demands Study
3.3 Liquid milk
3.3.1 Introduction
The dairy industry is a very important part of the New Zealand economy and the volumes
of both milk and finished products transported are substantial. These volumes include
liquid milk transported from farm to factory, the movement of the finished products to
export ports and to consumers in New Zealand and flows of milk and intermediate
products between factories and stores. The industry is dominated by Fonterra. There
are also a number of small firms within the industry either producing speciality products
or operating in specific regions.
3.3.2 Information sources
Information on the dairy sector and the movements generated has been obtained from
interviews with:
Fonterra
Westland Milk
Open Country Cheese
Tatua Dairy.
The information gained from these has been supplemented by information obtained from
publicly available sources and also from information from transport operators and port
statistics.
3.3.3 Milk production
In 2006-07, total milk production in New Zealand was just over 15 billion litres,
equivalent to about 15.6 million tonnes. The estimated breakdown of production by
region is set out in Table 3.3 and Figure 3.1. Figure 3.2 displays the geographical
distribution of production.
Table 3.3
Liquid milk production 2006-07
Total production
(million litres)
Total production
(000 tonnes) Percent of total
Northland 905.9 933.1 6.0%
Auckland 410.9 423.2 2.7%
Waikato 4,520.7 4,656.3 29.9%
Bay of Plenty 1,235.0 1,272.1 8.2%
Gisborne 5.0 5.2 0.0%
Hawke‟s Bay 148.3 152.7 1.0%
Taranaki 1,706.8 1,758.0 11.3%
Manawatu-Wanganui 1,066.1 1,098.1 7.0%
Wellington 264.4 272.3 1.7%
Tasman/Marlborough 301.8 310.9 2.0%
West Coast 456.0 469.7 3.0%
Canterbury 2002.9 2,063.0 13.2%
Otago 700.4 721.4 4.6%
Southland 1,410.1 1,452.4 9.3%
Source:
Total 15,134.2 15,588.2 100.0%
LIC New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2006-07 and consultant‟s analysis.
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