Wellington, Sept 23 - New Zealand's Fonterra, the country's biggest company and the world's largest dairy exporter, confirmed on Wednesday its payout for the just-ended season.
It said farmers would be paid a total of NZ$5.20 a kilogram of milksolids, which reflected the fall in prices and demand because of the global downturn.
The farmer-owned co-operative originally forecast a payout of NZ$7.00/kg last May, but revised it lower three times during the season as markets deteriorated.
On Tuesday, it raised its forecast for the 2009/10 season by 12 percent to NZ$5.10/kg from an initial NZ$4.55 forecast.
The group, which controls around a third of the world's dairy exports and generates about 7 percent of New Zealand's gross domestic product.
It said group revenue had fallen to NZ$16 billion ($11.5 billion) from the previous season's NZ$19.5 billion, which showed the impact of weaker prices.
However, milk production rose 7 percent to 1.28 million kilograms as the sector recovered from drought.
Prices for whole milk powder have risen a total 56 percent in Fonterra's past two monthly Internet-based auctions on improved demand and reduction in global stocks.
Fonterra, whose brands include Anchor and Fresh n'Fruity, competes on world markets against food conglomerates such as Nestle , Kraft Foods Inc and Danone.