Dairy prices up 1.8pc overnight (+graphic)

Prices of dairy products rose in Fonterra's latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, with whole milk powder posting its biggest gain since March last year.

The GDT-TWI Price Index rose 1.8 per cent compared to the last sale two weeks ago. The average winning price gained to US$3,399 a metric tonne. Whole milk powder, the biggest product by volume, climbed 9.2 per cent to US$3,421 a tonne, the biggest gain since March 1 last year, when the price jumped 9.6 per cent. Skim milk powder rose 0.8 per cent to US$3,325 a tonne.

See more details of the auction here.

The latest sale marks the fifth in six where prices have gained and pushes the GDT-TWI price to the highest since March this year. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Index has also recovered from its lows this year, set in June.

The total volume sold fell to 52,828 tonnes from 59,307 two weeks ago.

Anhydrous milk fat fell 3.2 per cent to US$2,879 a tonne and cheddar dropped 9.9 per cent to US$2,990 a tonne. Butter milk powder rose 4.3 per cent to US$3,289 a tonne. Lactose wasn't offered.

Milk protein concentrate rose 4.2 per cent to US$6,117 a tonne and rennet casein fell 2.2 per cent to US$7,254 a tonne.

There were 134 winning bidders over 15 rounds. There were 178 participating bidders out of a total number of qualified bidders of 725.