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The Irish Farmers Journal has learned that the maximum offer was just €1,670/t and there were just two offers totalling 136t.
The tender bids continue to slide too. The tender two weeks ago saw highest bids of €1,803.90/t, while the tender before that had a highest bid of €1,850/t.
The highest prices at the tenders continue to be well below the European Commission’s asking price for SMP. However, market prices for European SMP have fallen from as high as €2,300/t to close to €1,900/t today.
Over the course of the six tenders, only 40t of product has been sold and that was at the first tender. For that sale, bids of €2,150/t and €2,200/t were accepted.
There are over 350,000t of SMP still in storage.
The Irish Farmers Journal understands that a proposal is being brought forward to move to a monthly tender for SMP as opposed to the current system where there is a tender every two weeks.
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Powder shelf life
As more time passes, the threat of the SMP becoming feed over food grows. Food only has a 15-month shelf life. After that, it becomes a feed product.
In the region of 25,000t passed from being food to feed at the end of January. This will be the case for a further 5,000t by the end of March.
While there is a strong market demand for SMP as a feed product, it is usually sold at €100/t to €150/t lower than SMP as a food product.
Milk powder prices tumble at this week’s GDT
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