This week’s Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction increased by 0.5%, betraying expectations that it was going to fall.

The biggest surprise was that whole milk powder (WMP) increased in price by 2.4%, despite all the talk that the world is full of WMP, with even China now exporting it.

Prices for both butter and skim fell by 2.4% and 2.7% respectively. The fall for butter is hard to make out, particularly when we see where European butter prices are heading for.

Part of the reason why prices were expecting to be under pressure at this GDT auction was because the quantity of product being offered was well up, particularly WMP.

In the end, there was over 35,000t of product moved, which is significant, considering just a few auctions ago there was barely 17,000t being traded.

Meanwhile, butter prices increased substantially this week in Europe, increasing in price by €265/t to hit €7,000/t.

The last time butter went this high was during the peak of the dairy prices in spring 2022.

The last spike in butter prices was in May, when it went to over €6,700/t to then fall back sharply by €400/t, but it has been building since then.

The futures markets would suggest that there are more price rises for butter to come over the coming weeks.

Other notable price increases in Europe was for WMP, increasing by €130/t to €3,950/t, which is the highest price for WMP in other a year and a half.

The same optimism isn’t replicated in the cheese and skim milk powder (SMP) markets, with both flat at best this week in Europe.