Australian Dairy Industry Under Pressure

CANBERRA - Mar 6/02 - STAT -- Australia's dairy industry will continue to suffer from tough market conditions as pressure on manufactured dairy product returns and milk producer prices continues over the medium term, delegates to this year's ABARE outlook conference here were told.

ABARE commodity and policy analyst, Ian Shaw, said, "We could paint a much more positive picture for prices if significant improvement in market access can be achieved out of the current WTO negotiations.

"Government and industry must remain vigilant in ensuring any gains from stronger demand occurring from increased market access are not whittled away by more subsided exports from major dairy producers."

Chief Executive Officer of Bonland Dairies, Aidan Coleman, predicted further trade liberalization resulting from the WTO negotiations would place greater demand on the Australian dairy industry to consolidate.

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here

The subscriber version of the article is available by Clicking here