Dairy product prices rose 3.4% at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, with skimmed milk powder being the main mover and prices posting an increase of 12.1%.

It follows on from the positive auction on May 17, when prices rose 2.6% and it is the second time this year that the auction has posted two positive auctions.

At the today’s auction, butter milk powder (BMP) posted the highest increase (+14.2%) followed by SMP (+12.1%) and cheddar (7.8%).

Meanwhile, whole milk powder (WMP) at today’s Global Dairy Trade was down 1.7% and rennet casein (RenCas) was also down, by 1.6%.

Key Results

  • AMF index up 2.8%, average price US$3,444/MT.
  • Butter index up 3.2%, average price US$2,762/MT.
  • BMP index up 14.2%, average price US$1,765/MT.
  • Ched index up 7.8%, average price US$2,669/MT.
  • LAC index up 4.7%, average price US$750/MT.
  • RenCas index down 1.6%, average price US$5,035/MT.
  • SMP index up 12.1%, average price US$1,867/MT.
  • WMP index down 1.7%, average price US$2,205/MT.

Global Dairy Trade

Commission to propose another 130,000t of milk powder goes into intervention

The European Commission will propose a further increase in the intervention ceilings for Skimmed Milk Powder up to 350,000t.

The original 109,000t ceiling for buying-in of skimmed milk powder at fixed price was reached on March 31.

On April 20, buying-in at fixed price resumed when the Commission doubled ceiling to 218,000t. The new ceiling was reached on May 25.

At the rate powder is being sold into intervention it will break the 300,000t mark in June. To put that into context 300,000t is as much as 75% of New Zealand’s annual production.

On May 23, almost 7,500t of SMP was offered to public intervention with Ireland leading the charge on the day, offering some 55% of the product on the day.

Last week, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan told the European Parliament this morning that the Commission will propose a further increase in the ceilings up to 350,000t.

The Commissioner said last year, total private storage aid and public intervention support covered 2.8m tonnes of product, at a time when EU production increased by 3.5m tonnes.

“We have now effectively deployed all of the tools available in the CAP toolkit,” he said.