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Speaker 1: The primary sector has helped drive an April trade surplus

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Speaker 1: of one point four billion dollars, first billion dollar surplus

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Speaker 1: in five years. For the month, it was a five

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Speaker 1: hundred sorry, a twelve million dollar deficit the same time

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Speaker 1: last year. Dairy the big winner, up six hundred million

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Speaker 1: dollars on last year to a total of two point

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Speaker 1: two billion. Milk powder alone brought in a billion bucks,

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Speaker 1: up thirty two percent on last year. Richard McIntyre Federated

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Speaker 1: Farmer's Dairy chairperson with me this morning, Richard, good morning,

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Speaker 1: Good morning Ron. So this is something worth celebrating, is it?

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Speaker 1: Can you put it into context? Everyone's saying our farmers

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Speaker 1: are creaming it. I'm paying too much for my butter.

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Speaker 1: What do you say, Well.

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Speaker 2: Well, first, all right, there'll be a heap of dairy

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Speaker 2: farmers listening to your show this morning. With a smile

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Speaker 2: and the face he's just hearing it. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: so proud of our contribution to the economy and the

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Speaker 2: wider standing of the center of living that we help

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Speaker 2: New Zealand degenerate. Sorry, but look, yeah, there's a lot

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Speaker 2: going on in the space, you know. Definitely, milk is

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Speaker 2: a rising. The same way that everything else is rising

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Speaker 2: at the moment. But you know, dairy farmers aren't creamy it.

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Speaker 2: We are doing a right at the moment, but our

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Speaker 2: costs have gone up so much over the last few

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Speaker 2: years that you know, in all reality, all we're doing

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Speaker 2: is making a reasonable margin at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, on farm inflation and just whacked you guys for sex,

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Speaker 1: didn't that? So does this? How long do you? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I saw the ASB numbers for predictions for next season.

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Speaker 1: It's looking like it could be which starts shortly, could

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Speaker 1: be a good one.

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Speaker 2: Too, Yeah, definitely, you know, it's all innications are that

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Speaker 2: next season is going to be around the ten door

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Speaker 2: mark at the moment, but there's still a lot of

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Speaker 2: volatility out these internationally, so you never really know until

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Speaker 2: until you're told you've got it, you know, a year later.

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Speaker 2: But look, on farm costs are still sitting around the

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Speaker 2: eight dollar fifty marks, so you know, there's about a

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Speaker 2: dollar fifty margin for the average farmer at the moment.

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Speaker 2: So we're certainly not cream it, but it is certainly

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Speaker 2: a good time for the dear industry.

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Speaker 1: How can it be cheaper to get butter from Australia?

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Speaker 1: You know, you see these stories of bakeries going to

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Speaker 1: Australia to get their better rather than buying it from here.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a good question. So you know New Zealand

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Speaker 2: dairy products attracted premium because they are grass fed, their safe,

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Speaker 2: they're nutritious, and they've also got the lowest greenhouse gas

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Speaker 2: emission footprint in the world, and so you know, international

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Speaker 2: customers are prepared to pay a premium for them, so

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Speaker 2: so often it is actually cheaper to import. I'll enjoy

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Speaker 2: saving this, but a fairy Australian product.

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Speaker 1: Richard, Thank you a nice explanation. Richard McIntyre, dairy cheaperson

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Speaker 1: at fed Farmers.

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