A sharp reduction in Fonterra's milk price will put the squeeze on the industry and rural communities will feel the brunt of the economic impact.

Fonterra has reduced its latest forecast farmgate milk price $7.00 to $6.00 per kgMS - a total drop in payments to farmers of $4.3 billion from last season.

Fonterra says it's 'realigning' its packing operations at its Canpac plant in the Waikato - and 110 jobs may be lost as a result.

French food giant Danone says a High Court judge's decision halting its legal action against Fonterra will create undue delay.

Fonterra has successfully put Danone’s legal action against it in New Zealand courts on hold.

Big changes lie ahead for the international dairy trade when the European Union (EU) dismantles its 30-year-old quota system next year.

Agriculture reporter Jamie Gray looks at reasons why it’s not yet doom and gloom for the dairy sector following this morning's drop in global dairy prices.

The pressure is on Fonterra’s $7.00 a kg farmgate milk price forecast for this year after another sharp fall in international dairy prices overnight.

Fonterra-owned GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) has added another product line and a new participant to its online trading platform.

Fonterra and other big players on the international dairy market will need to buy or tie up with more companies to maintain the kind of growth they have enjoyed over the last few years.

Fonterra said milk collection across New Zealand for the month of June reached 9 million kg of milksolids, 10.1 per cent higher than the same month last year.

Fonterra's $7 per kg farmgate milk price forecast for 2014/15 is once again under significant downward pressure because of ongoing falls in international dairy prices.

June provided further evidence that the terms of trade is headed south, albeit from the most favourable levels in 40 years.

New Zealand commodity prices fell for a fourth straight month in June, led by apples, logs, whole and skim milk powder.

Speculation is mounting that Fonterra is on the verge of securing a profit-sharing agreement with a British dairy producer.

Dairy product prices fell to the lowest level since January 2013 in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, paced by a drop in butter and anhydrous milk fat.

French food giant Danone was "lulled into a false sense of security" by allegedly misleading information Fonterra gave it months before the botulism scare.

Fonterra has been slapped with a $150,000 fine for breaching disclosure requirements to the NZX over the botulism false alarm last August.

Liam Dann asks, "How worried should we be about the slump in global dairy prices? After all these years, NZ is still a giant grass-processing factory and milk remains the lifeblood of our economy."

The ink is barely dry on Fonterra's milk price forecast for 2014/15 and there are already signs that it could be revised downwards.

Signs of normality returned to the dairy sector yesterday when Fonterra forecast a $7 a kg farmgate milk price for 2014-15.

Fonterra has set an opening milk price of $7.00 per kg of milksolids for the 2014/15 season and revised down its forecast for the current season.