New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has been forced to dump 50m litres of milk because of a gas shortage to its plants.

The co-operative said 20m litres of milk have gone down the drain today (27 October) because of a leak in the Maui pipeline, adding to Wednesday’s 30m litres.

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The dairy co-operative’s general manager of milk supply, Steve Murphy, said the figure should be down to five million on Friday.

Fonterra’s Maungaturoto, Kauri and Tip Top facilities remain closed, forcing farmers to dispose of the milk.

Murphy added that the operation team worked through the night to get sites in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Northland back processing milk.

“The result is that we expect to be able to only collect and process about two thirds of the milk in the area”, he added.

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“We have advised farmers that while we are making every effort to collect as much milk as possible.”

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