There were positive moves on the dairy front this week, with butter prices pushing back up by €200/t and whole milk powder (WMP) increasing by €150/t.

Cheese and skim milk powder (SMP) were flat, with the former rising by €10/t and the latter dropping by €20/t.

There has been a bit of a yo-yo effect with butter prices since they came off the peak, falling one week and rising the next, so the €200/t increase this week is really just making up for the drop in previous weeks.

It’s still positive and it shows that buyers are comfortable paying these high prices, particularly for butter and cheese.

There was no Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction this week, so to get a handle on the global picture, we just have the GDT pulse auctions.

The pulse price for SMP went up by €51/t this week, while the pulse price for WMP went up by €65/t.

Both prices are now higher than the average price for each commodity achieved at the last main auction, indicating that a positive GDT auction for powders is in the offing next week.

Milk deliveries to Irish co-ops continue to surpass 2023 levels by double digits, which is more of an indication about how bad supplies were last year than anything else.

Conditions are good and cows are milking well and the dairy market is strong, which is reflected in high milk prices, which is a strong signal for farmers to keep milking on as we head into late lactation.

Some predict that the country will end up being back about 2% in milk supplies for 2024 compared with 2023 by year end.