By RACHNA LAL
The effects of the shortage of dairy products in New Zealand caused by the drought there is expected to soon trickle down to Fiji as well.
Dairy product prices in New Zealand have already gone up by 30 per cent.
Nathan Hildebrand, marketing director for CJ Patel Group, the company which now owns Fiji Dairy, said consumers should be aware the prices of imported dairy products would be rising in the next two to three weeks.
“Good news out of this is with all this, domestic dairy product prices are not going up,” he said.
“Rewa Life UHT milk and Skim Milk remains at existing price and will continue to be the same.
“The quality of the milk has improved as well as these are now produced with new homogenisers so there are no clotting issues in the milk produced locally.
“All powdered milk is imported and therefore, this means the price of powdered milk will increase,” he said.
“This is because there is a short supply of dairy products because of the drought in New Zealand especially with New Zealand being the largest supplier of dairy products in this region.”
Mr Hildebrand said the shortage in supply has impacted dairy prices.
However, he said the price increase will be subject to approval from the Commerce Commission.
“Upon receipt of goods, we will be going to Commerce Commission,” Mr Hildebrand said.
“We anticipate all other importers of dairy products will also go to Commerce Commission.”
No change in domestic products
Mr Hildebrand confirmed there has been no price increase for dairy products currently and the Commerce Commission-regulated prices still remain.
Meanwhile, Mr Hildebrand said with the recently-opened milk chilling centre in the West, it was encouraging what they are seeing so far.
“We anticipate for this to get even better,” he said.