A further revision of Fonterra's 2009/10 milk payout forecast now has farmers anticipating a milk price of $5.70 kgMS. This is an increase of $1.10 from the last forecast in September, although the distributable profit has reduced by 15 cents to 35 cents kgMS.

Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden says the forecast reflects their increasing confidence around the recent gains in international dairy prices.
Since September, whole milk prices have risen by an average of 13.7 per cent and over the last four months the average WMP prices on Fonterra's global Dairy Trade online platform, which last year accounted for 10 per cent of their sales, have risen by 88 per cent.