Christmas joy has come early for New Zealand dairy farmers as prices leapt 4.6 per cent across the board in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction (https://www.globaldairytrade.info/en/product-results/), held overnight, with all indexes trending upwards.
Crucially, the Whole Milk Powder price – the biggest influencer on Fonterra’s Farmgate milk price – charged ahead by 5.0 per cent to an average US$3,182/MT.
The Skim Milk Powder index – the second biggest influencer on milk price – followed closely behind, with a 3.6 per cent jump to an average US$2,889/MT.
Showing the biggest lift, but with very little in the way of volume on offer, Lactose shot up 13.5 per cent to an average US$1,004/MT.
The fats all showed increases as well – led by butter with a 3.8 per cent rise to an average US$3,986/MT. Anhydrous Milk Fat followed with a 2.6 per cent rise to an average US$4,278/MT, Cheddar came in up 2.4 per cent to an average US$3,734/MT and finally Butter Milk Powder increased 1.3 per cent to an average US$2,731/MT, but with very little product on offer also.
A total of 32,062MT of product was sold – lower than in recent auctions, but still attracting 112 bidders over 16 rounds.
In a market update on October 15, Fonterra increased the midpoint of its forecast Farmgate milk price for the 2020/21 season by 40 cents to $6.80, but retained its $1 range of between $6.30 and $7.30.