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Speaker 1: Food Price Index one of those numbers where the reading

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Speaker 1: of it is the key as far as I can

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Speaker 1: work out, I mean annualized, yes it was five percent,

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Speaker 1: but the key to it I would have thought this

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Speaker 1: month on month it didn't actually move. Other words, the

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Speaker 1: ongoing issues seem to have stopped. Dairy continues that juggernaw act,

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Speaker 1: Milk up sixteen, cheese twenty six, butter thirty two, meat

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Speaker 1: and poultry and fish I hate. John Stevenson is the

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Speaker 1: Froontier Cooperative Council chair and as well as John, morning.

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Speaker 2: To you, Good morning Mike.

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Speaker 1: What's your understanding of the dairy story. What's your vibe

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Speaker 1: around this discussion we've been having in the country. Everyone

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Speaker 1: hates paying more for cheese and milk, But I mean,

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Speaker 1: do you think people finally understand why.

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Speaker 2: I've had so and certainly understand, you know, having three

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Speaker 2: growing kids ourself, the cost to go in the said

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Speaker 2: market is really uncomfortable. But you know, hopefully the message

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Speaker 2: that it's a direct reflection of global markets is as

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Speaker 2: getting through. And just for a bit of context, you

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Speaker 2: a week nine percent plus of our product overseas, So

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Speaker 2: we feel those sides, but both the lows really sharply.

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Speaker 1: Is there any actual issue when we come to look

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Speaker 1: at these numbers. Is there any issue for your guys

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Speaker 1: in your area with supermarkets, either supply, transportation, supply, chain

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Speaker 1: markups any Are there any issues around that or not?

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Speaker 2: Not that we're aware of mic And look, you know,

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Speaker 2: we are further away from being farmers and representative sort

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Speaker 2: of farmers. But you know, what we see is a

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Speaker 2: pretty clear correlation between current prices in global markets. Is

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Speaker 2: a good news story obviously for US as farms strives

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Speaker 2: their profitability, but you know, also really good for our

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Speaker 2: regional economies as well.

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Speaker 1: And I think we're great, see can't we. I mean

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Speaker 1: if you look at coffee, and you look at olive oil,

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Speaker 1: and you look at chocolate, I mean that these are

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Speaker 1: climatic things as opposed to market driven things. But nevertheless,

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Speaker 1: food goes up and food goes down, and that's just life,

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Speaker 1: isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Definitely, And from us ow to speak of as farmers,

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Speaker 2: you only have to go back to the twenty three

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Speaker 2: twenty four season where we hit a headline milk price

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Speaker 2: that was below the cost of production. So it's an

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Speaker 2: actual of the business and it's a good time to

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Speaker 2: be a farmer now may not always be.

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Speaker 1: The case exactly. How bullishing you guys feeling at the moment?

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Speaker 1: I mean, are you beside yourself or not?

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Speaker 2: Really? There's definitely a really strong sense of optimism. I

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Speaker 2: think we saw a couple of days ago the Rabobanks

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Speaker 2: survey come out showing the confidence and they're all set

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Speaker 2: their second highest in the last ten years. There's certainly

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Speaker 2: a lot of optimism out there at the moment. I

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Speaker 2: think farmers taking the opportunity to invest in a bit

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Speaker 2: of deeper payment, but also invest in some technology and

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Speaker 2: the food repairs and maintenance to get ourselves in a

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Speaker 2: good position for whatever the cycles may deliver in the future.

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Speaker 1: Great stuff, John, appreciate your times, John Stevenson, who's the

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Speaker 1: Fonterra Cooperative Council. Just to run you through a couple

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Speaker 1: of the numbers, keep you for it. For example, down

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Speaker 1: nine point three percent. See that stuff doesn't make the headline,

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Speaker 1: does it? We want go on up five percent? I mean,

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Speaker 1: no one likes paying more. I fully get it, but

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Speaker 1: you got to understand the numbers. Restaurant meals ready to

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Speaker 1: eat food up two point four. Non alcoholic beverages that's

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Speaker 1: fuzzy crap. Don't buy it three point nine percent up,

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Speaker 1: don't buy it. Non food are rent price increase two

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Speaker 1: point one. That's pretty reasonable. Cigarettes and tobacco up four

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Speaker 1: point eight. Petrol prices down two point four. Domestic air

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Speaker 1: transport down eight point six, international though up eight point three.

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Speaker 1: Electricity prices and this is where the real scandal is.

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Speaker 1: This is the stuff. Forget your butter. This is the

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Speaker 1: stuff we need to be focusing on rates, insurance and electricity.

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Speaker 1: Electricity up eleven point four percent. Ask yourself, why supply

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Speaker 1: and demand? It's the old story. For more from the

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Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talk Set B

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Speaker 1: from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio