The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has already launched an investigation into the timing and notice of cuts of the milk price paid to farmers following the price cuts by Murray Goulburn and Fonterra earlier this year, but minister for agriculture Barnaby Joyce said the ACCC will launch a broader investigation.

The minister said: “An in-depth and independent inquiry is a thorough and fair way to uncover inefficiencies and inequities that our farmers face.”

Market expectations

The ACCC inquiry is to begin in November and report its findings in the second half of 2017. It will investigate the risk along the supply chain, supply agreements and contracts, competition, bargaining and trading practises in the industry and the effect of world and retail prices on profitability.

All the major milk processors in the country met financial market expectations for the previous year, despite a turbulent year of falling prices and sluggish demand.

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