Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the CEO of Synlait resigning

Synlait chief executive Richard Wyeth is leaving - after one year in the job. 

The South Island dairy processor's released an NZX market update, saying Leon Fung will be acting CEO, effective immediately. 

Wyeth will remain supporting the transition, until the end of June. 

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jamie McKay, host of the Countries with us Elo Jamie
get a header. Now, why does Sinlay boss resign?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, that's a good question. No reason it's given for
his departure. I know this bloke reasonably well. Richard Wyth.
He's a good bloke. He's got a good record, got
a good track record in the dairy industry. He was
formerly the chief executive at Meraka and then Westland Milki
got head hunted by Sinlay and he's been in the
job for just over twelve months and he's resigned. I

(00:29):
think it makes it something like three senior leaders in
that company departing in the past few weeks. He's going
to hang out around till June the thirtieth to support
an orderly transition Bright Dairy. They're the owners appointed director
Leon Fung will take over as acting CEO as of

(00:50):
May fourteen, which is today. Meanwhile, Heather On the sticking
with the dairy theme in Canterbury, where Sinlay is based.
Canterbury could end up with twenty five thousand more dairy
cows over the next few years as interest and dairy
conversions continue to ramp up and the arable farmers and
Canterbury are having a pretty tough time of it, not

(01:12):
only with the diesel prices but also poor returns and
just trouble and not very good weather over the past
few seasons. So they thought twelve and a half thousand
we're going to come on stream through dairy conversions. They're
saying that number now could be as high as twenty
five thousan twenty six farms currently under conversion for startups

(01:33):
in spring of this year and next year, average size
eight hundred cows. Meanwhile, the number of dairy cows nationwide
has actually dropped half a percent to four point six
eight million, about two percent below the five year average,
and that's due to land use change in areas like
the Bay are Plenty, for instance, where some of that
good dairying country is going to Kiwi for it.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Now, listen, do you see those stats yesterday that wine
consumption worldwide is following, is falling, And if you saw it,
are you worried about it?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, I'm doing my bit, Heather. I know on occasions
you can as well, and maybe we can do our
but after we've finished MC in the primary industry New
Zealand Awards. But yeah, look at it's a real worry
for the wine industry. It's a big industry here in
New Zealand. We've got a grape glut at the moment
in this country. We've got growers, contract growers and places
like Marlborough who are leaving the grapes on the vine

(02:25):
because it's not economic to harvest it. They've got nowhere
for it to go. So it's a real worry. The
world consumption of wine down two point seven percent last
year to two hundred and eight million heck delets. That
sounds a lot. I've got no idea what it is.
But the cumulative dropped since twenty eighteen is fourteen percent. Now,

(02:47):
nine of the world's top ten wine markets have recorded
lower volumes, and three markets are really playing an outsized
role in global decline. China, France, United States. I didn't
know this, Heather, but States is the world's leading wine market.
I just thought they drank Budweiser over there. Consumption foul
four point three percent last year. The other one is France,

(03:10):
of course, they're fairly cultured, down three point two percent.
But wait for this one, and maybe Trump can help
this on his visit over there. At the moment, China,
world wine consumption has fallen by thirteen percent last year
and a massive sixty one percent since twenty twenty, so
the wine industry worldwide is in trouble.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Oh wow, hey, Jamie, thanks very much. Jamie McKay, Host
to the Country.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drave, listen live to
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