The dairy market got a shot in the arm this week when the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction results were announced, showing that the index increased by 6.3% since the last auction.
It’ll go some way towards easing the massive 22.5% drop experienced in the last nine auctions of 2025.
As expected, the main movers at the GDT were powders, with whole milk powder (WMP) increasing by 7.2%, while skim milk powder (SMP) went up by 5.4%. There were gains also for butter (up 3.8%) and anhydrous milk fat, which went up by a significant 7.4%.
What all this means for Irish farmers remains to be seen, but for New Zealand farmers, it means that Fonterra is less likely to cut the forecast price for the season, at least in the short term. A lot will depend on what happens from here on.
The good news from a Kiwi perspective is that the futures market for dairy in Singapore, which covers all of Asia, is much more optimistic on the price front than the US or EU futures.
A lot of that is down to the subdued demand and high volume growth coming from the US and Europe. It’s hard to be optimistic when there’s a wall of milk facing the market, with the US tracking supply growth rates in excess of 3% for 2025.
As European markets return from the Christmas break, all eyes will be on what happens next. With small price increases over the break, maybe the bottom has been reached.
That’s not to say that the bottom has been reached in milk prices, as they tend to lag the market. December milk prices are due later this month.
The dairy market got a shot in the arm this week when the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction results were announced, showing that the index increased by 6.3% since the last auction.
It’ll go some way towards easing the massive 22.5% drop experienced in the last nine auctions of 2025.
As expected, the main movers at the GDT were powders, with whole milk powder (WMP) increasing by 7.2%, while skim milk powder (SMP) went up by 5.4%. There were gains also for butter (up 3.8%) and anhydrous milk fat, which went up by a significant 7.4%.
What all this means for Irish farmers remains to be seen, but for New Zealand farmers, it means that Fonterra is less likely to cut the forecast price for the season, at least in the short term. A lot will depend on what happens from here on.
The good news from a Kiwi perspective is that the futures market for dairy in Singapore, which covers all of Asia, is much more optimistic on the price front than the US or EU futures.
A lot of that is down to the subdued demand and high volume growth coming from the US and Europe. It’s hard to be optimistic when there’s a wall of milk facing the market, with the US tracking supply growth rates in excess of 3% for 2025.
As European markets return from the Christmas break, all eyes will be on what happens next. With small price increases over the break, maybe the bottom has been reached.
That’s not to say that the bottom has been reached in milk prices, as they tend to lag the market. December milk prices are due later this month.
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