The nation's two big dairy companies, which are seeking a mega-merger with the Dairy Board, say the joint industry/Government working party has made significant progress on public-policy issues.
John Roadley, chairman-designate of the tentatively named Global Dairy Company, made the comment after meeting Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton, Finance Minister Michael Cullen,
Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton and Commerce Minister Paul Swain.
Mr Roadley, currently board chairman, was accompanied to the meeting by Kiwi Dairies chairman Greg Gent, and New Zealand Dairy Company chairman Henry van der Heyden.
The industry leaders and the Government were working together to ensure the industry was in good shape to capture the benefits of the merger from the beginning of the 2001-02 season, he said.
The Government had assured them that its goal was for shareholders to be in a position to vote in early May.
When the latest merger plan was announced in December, the industry wanted the Global Dairy Company, representing more than 95 per cent of the national $9 billion industry, to be operational by the start of the new season, June 1.
The latest timing makes it likely that enabling legislation will not be passed until August, and the payments from the company will be backdated to June 1.
Mr Sutton has asked the working party to look at contestability, fair entry and exit values, the distribution of returns, and quota management.
And he warned at the start of the process that while ministers would not rule out exempting the merger from the scrutiny of the Commerce Commission, "it was a big ask" to set up a monopoly in New Zealand's most important processing industry.
The dairy industry says it would be willing to sell off the New Zealand Dairy Group's 50 per cent stake in New Zealand Dairy Foods, to provide competition at consumer level.
But the industry has not been able to propose a similar mechanism for the domestic market for raw milk. Dairy farmers would have only one major customer.
This could leave the mega-company unable to satisfy the commission, which aims to see that consumers and producers benefit from healthy competition in domestic markets, including the market for milk bought from farmers.
But the companies want an exemption from a formal commission inquiry.
Mr Sutton has said the working party will judge whether the proposal is in the best interests of the industry and New Zealand.
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