Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co will close three processing facilities – slashing up to 360 jobs – and write down $410 million – to cope with lower milk intake across its network.

The co-op will forgive debts owed by farmers under its Milk Supply Support Package (MSSP) at a cost of $148 million, so that suppliers won’t have to restart repayments in July.

Murray Goulburn has been struggling to maintain its milk supply after very wet weather in August and September cut the amount of milk produced by its suppliers.

The co-op announced the closures and write-down on Tuesday following a review undertaken to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Murray Goulburn said about 360 jobs at its Edith Creek facility in Tasmania, and its Rochester and Keiwa facilities in Victoria will be affected by the closures over the next two years, saving between $40 million and $50 million a year.

The company said it will maintain its farm gate milk prices of $4.95 per kilogram of milk solids despite saying current conditions will lead to an FY17 price of $4.60, with the difference to be funded by debt.

In addition to forgiving the MSSP debts, Murray Goulburn said it will make a special payment to continuing and retired suppliers who made MSSP repayments between July and September last year, and to any suppliers who start supplying it with milk again by July 31.

Murray Goulburn said its total write-downs, including debt funding and reductions in the carrying value of halted major investments in dairy beverages and nutritionals, will be about $410 million.

The diary company booked a first-half loss of $31.87 million in February, compared to a profit of $10 million a year earlier.