Buyer demand for dairy commodities has eased in the past week, as the holiday period in Europe gets underway. European spot prices for butter have fallen back slightly in the last week, dipping below the €6,000/t mark, while skimmed milk powder (SMP) prices are back at intervention levels.Buyer sentiment for SMP has been quite subdued over the last fortnight following the EU Commission’s decision to sell 100t of SMP out of intervention for a price of €1,850/t. The knock-on from this saw SMP prices take a sharp fall (-5%) to €1,835/t ($2,090/t) at last week’s GDT auction in New Zealand.