Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton today made public another report to inform the current debate on the proposal to merge New Zealand Dairy Group, Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, and the Dairy Board.

The report, by UK-based Promar International, was commissioned by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry in March as part of the analysis of the merger proposal done by officials for the Government.

It says that to compete in the global market, scale is increasingly important and that there is a window of opportunity for a mega company such as GDC to develop market positions for commodity and dairy ingredient products in developing markets. It also raises issues that will need to be addressed by those putting the merger together.

"The Government recognises the need for reform of the dairy industry but is not promoting the merits or otherwise of the Global Dairy merger itself. It is important that this proposal is thoroughly discussed and debated, both inside and outside the industry," Mr Sutton said.

He said the report from Promar International was just one of a number of official reports and other documents to be published. The report represented an independent perspective, and was not Government policy.

"There are a number of important issues associated with the merger proposal, which my officials are still working on. They are currently consulting with people in the industry on a number of those matters, and legislation to address those issues will be introduced to Parliament next month.

"That legislation will be referred to a parliamentary select committee, which will provide further opportunity for people to make submissions," Mr Sutton said.

The Promar report is available on http//:www.maf.govt.nz/dairymerger

Office of Hon Jim Sutton

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