For those interested in learning more about the dairy industry,...

For those interested in learning more about the dairy industry, the below is a research done by the government.
"Relative Costs of Doing Business in Australia: Dairy Product Manufacturing"
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/dairy-manufacturing/report/dairy-manufacturing.pdf

Milk Production in Victoria is actually slightly cheaper than NZ, much cheaper than US and EU but slightly more expensive than UK and Argentina. At the moment, I believe EU milk production, one of the major reasons for oversupplied dairy market, is much less competitive than NZ and AUS and is why EU intervention has to come in.

On average, Cheese production uses about 33% of milk intake, in contrast to the common view that milk intake is mostly used for drinking, milk powder and baby formula. MG new cheese plants would benefit.

On a longer horizon, milk production will not increase significantly around the globe, due to excess debts and increasing farming expense on farmers, including Australia. I don't expect decline trend in milk intake will be reversed soon. Capital conservation is the right way to go, but at the same time, don't forget to improve competitive edge. Upgrading of existing factory serves as a better alternative to building new plants for additional capacity, unless new plants provide significantly higher quality in products and more cost advantages in the process.