That’s despite a 1.6% drop for whole milk powder (WMP) – which makes up more than half of the auction by volume and has the biggest influence on Fonterra’s farmgate milk price – to US$3,142/MT.
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Before the auction, HighGround Dairy’s senior manager of global markets, Stu Davison, said another 3% decline seemed probable.
“Anything less will be impressive.”
ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown also picked WMP prices to ease by about US$100.
Meanwhile, skim milk powder prices, which is the second largest influence on Fonterra’s milk price and makes up about a third of the auction by volume, dropped 1.1% to US$2,566/MT.
Mozzarella decreased 0.8% to $4,225/MT on light volumes.
Lactose also decreased by 0.6% to US$792/MT.
The largest increase was in cheddar, up 6.2% to US$4,217/MT.
Anhydrous milk fat was up 4% to US$6,764/MT, and butter prices also increased 0.8% to $6,606/MT.
Just over 22,954/MT of product was sold across the auction with 174 participating bidders.
Fonterra currently has a forecast farmgate price of between $7.25 and $8.75 a kilogram of milk solids (kgMS), with a midpoint of $8/kgMS for the new season.
Synlait’s forecast base price is also $8/kgMS.
SGX-NZX NZ Milk Price Futures lasted traded at 8.23/kgMS, down from $8.27/kgMS.
-BusinessDesk