New Zealand Dairy Farmers Pocket Billions From Huge Capital Payout

New Zealand dairy farmers are about to get a record multi-billion dollar, tax-free payout. They may need every cent of it.

Around NZ$3.9 billion ($2.3 billion) will hit the bank accounts on Tuesday of those who supply Fonterra Cooperative Group as the world’s biggest dairy exporter makes dividend payments and returns some of the proceeds from the sale of its Mainland Group consumer unit. But the cash injection comes just as the war in Iran drives up fuel and fertilizer costs and threatens to squeeze margins across the country’s crucial dairy sector.