By Tracy Withers

Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s biggest dairy exporter, is boosting milk powder stocks rather than shipping it overseas as prices slump, the National Business Review reported.

The company has told Port of Auckland Ltd. and Port of Tauranga Ltd. it will hold back inventory, the newspaper said, citing people it didn’t identify. Dairy shipments make up a fifth of New Zealand’s exports.

Fonterra is seeking as much as 70,000 square meters of extra warehouse space in Auckland to store the milk powder, the newspaper said. The company has already filled available space at Port of Tauranga and is planning to lease 800 shipping containers for emergency storage, the newspaper said.

Milk powder inventories are rising at about 200,000 tons a month, the Business Review said.