During the week, the dairy co-operative warned that the Government's emissions-trading scheme would cost the dairy industry $2.7 billion, and also learned a fourth dairy company was being established in the southern South Island.
Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden used a speech in Wairarapa later in the week to remind New Zealand that the country's largest company was one of the few businesses that could tap into "a rich vein of economic opportunities opening up globally".
Changes in wealth distribution, consumption, and globalisation of food and distribution services were driving consumer demand.
"These mega trends are changing the rules of the game.
They are also exposing huge opportunities around the world.
I believe Fonterra is one of few companies which has the necessary scale, global footprint, credentials and strength to tap this rich vein for New Zealand."
It was a pertinent reminder of the importance to New Zealand of a united dairy industry at a time when Fonterra's scale and size was threatened by new processors, he said.
Fonterra's attitude towards the proposed emissions-trading scheme echoed the concerns of other businesses who appeared before the finance and select committee last week, stating its cost would threaten their viability.
Fonterra advocated a more flexible approach: setting targets for emission reductions based on the sector's ability, rewarding farmers who reduced emissions, and investing in technology to reduce green-house gases.
Mr van der Heyden said the potential dividends of Fonterra's ability to tap into the global consumer demand for dairy-related health and nutrition products were huge and should be celebrated.
An extra $3.6 billion would be pumped into the economy this year compared with 2006-07, due to higher dairy prices.
But he warned success could not be taken for granted, as new milk supply the equivalent of the New Zealand dairy industry was coming on to the international market every year.
"We need to put aside any perception that we are large in the global dairy space.
We will have to earn our place in the market and fight to maintain it."
Fonterra would earn that place by building on its core strength-of-scale to offer customers service and innovation, but that required investment in markets such as China and the use of milk from overseas suppliers, Mr van der Heyden said.
Recent media reports said Fonterra has sought permission from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to buy Australia's third-largest dairy company, the co-operatively owned Dairy Farmers.
Fonterra would face stiff competition for Dairy Farmers, the Japanese-owned National Foods also a likely suitor.
Such a purchase would be part of a strategy that Mr van der Heyden said in 10 to 15 years could see Fonterra marketing three million tonnes of New Zealand-sourced product and a similar amount or more from a combination of offshore partnerships, investments and alliances.
But that required capital, an issue for co-operatives and one Fonterra needed to address if it was to pursue its strategy, he said.
"One thing's for certain: we can't do nothing.
If we do nothing, we might as well write off years of work which went into creating Fonterra and getting us where we are today."
International dairy prices stabilised last month after more than a year of rapid rises, but the new levels were well above previous prices.
The latest agribusiness review by specialist rural banker Rabobank said prices for skim milk powder, whole milk powder, butter and cheese were unchanged in April, but future changes depended on supply from Europe and North America, as supplies from the southern hemisphere had been hit by a dry season.
Europe has started the new season strongly as farmers increase feed rations and reduce cow culling.
"The rate of expansion is likely to be slow moving in the new quota year, though recent evidence suggests it will be higher than was expected a few months ago," the review said.
The fluctuating exchange rate meant export prices in April in New Zealand-dollar terms fell about 4% but stabilised later in the month.
