Fonterra overshoot on 2015 advance payment worsens 2016 farmer cash flows

Mon, 10 Aug 2015

By Paul McBeth Aug. 10 (BusinessDesk) - Milk prices have dropped so dramatically that Fonterra Cooperative Group effectively overpaid farmers under an advance payments scheme last year, sapping funds available to pay out farmers at the end of the season and leaving them short of cash even before last week's deep cut to the 2016 forecast payout. "Last year, Fonterra came out with a higher advance rate schedule during the year, effectively almost overpaying for milk as they went," Dairy Holdings chief executive Colin Glass told BusinessDesk...

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