Fonterra transport and logistics general manager Paul Phipps said tanker access was severely limited to farms north of Whangarei and on the Coromandel Peninsula.
With road access disrupted, it was likely milk trucks would be unable to safely get to a number of farms in regions affected by the cyclone, Phipps said.
One of the biggest challenges was pressure on the supply chain as the knock on effects of closed ports and rail services put a squeeze on what was already a strained national network, Phipps said.
A Fonterra spokesperson said the co-operative had no milk distribution sites or processing facilities in Hawke’s Bay but was collecting milk.
Gisborne was completely cut off, and there was no way to communicate with anyone, the spokesperson said.
“We won’t know the extent of the damage until tomorrow. There will be shortages on product this week,” she said.
More than a hundred farms would be cut off from collections for some time in some areas, the spokesperson said.
Alliance Group interim chief executive Willie Wiese said their Dannevirke and Levin meatworks would be temporally closed from Wednesday due to the adverse weather conditions and the state of civil emergency at local and national level.
The meat exporter would decide on Wednesday if roads were safe enough to transport animals to plants on Thursday, he said.
Alliance Group was not a big supplier to supermarkets.
A Seeka spokesperson said it was yet to assess its packhouses and kiwifruit orchards for storm damage.
Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said some meat processing plants in the North Island would temporarily close.
Staff had been unable to get to work and significant damage to roads meant trucks were unable to pick up livestock, Karapeeva said.
There was no significant pressure on processing capacity, she said.
Some farmers in the worst-hit regions would inevitably need to de-stock their farms and send livestock in for processing, Karapeeva said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Fonterra was not collecting milk in Hawke’s Bay. (Ammended at 9.33am, February 15, 2023)
