June 29, 2010

Some Victorian and New South Wales' (NSW) dairy farmers will be paid more for milk as a result of rising international demand.

Bega Cheese, one of Australia's largest cheese companies, is the latest to announce new season rates with 45 cents (39 US¢) a litre in NSW, a 12.5% increase on last year.

Its Victorian rates are up 25% to 35 cents (30 US¢) a litre.

Bega Cheese chairman Barry Irvin says dairy farmers are enjoying some of the best pay rates in a decade.

"We only had one year where we got to 50 cents (43 US¢) a litre, and that was the year when everything was booming and we all thought we were entering a new era," he says.

"So apart from that year, just before the global financial crisis, this would be up there with the best price since dairy deregulation."