The increase was driven by both strong demand and constrained supply, according to Cronin.
Demand globally remained fairly healthy, although it did vary across different countries, he said.
On the other side, global milk supply growth is forecast to track below-average levels, with European milk production growth down on last year and US milk growth slowing due to high feed costs.
As for supply in New Zealand, Fonterra had revised this season's forecast down 1.6 per cent - 1,500 million kgMS, Cronin said.
"That contributed to the jump in GDT prices, where we saw good prices right across the board."
While the higher price put pressure on Fonterra's margins in its consumer and foodservice businesses, the co-op said prices in its ingredients business were favourable for milk price and earnings at this stage.
As a result, Fonterra said it remained comfortable with its current earnings guidance of 25-35 cents per share.
Meanwhile, the co-op remained ready for any changes brought on by the country's shift to red light traffic restrictions and the imminent spread of Omicron, Cronin said.
"There's a whole lot of new challenges with Omicron, it's a different sort of beast [with] its higher transmission rate.
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"We're just making sure we can collect every drop of milk off the farm and that we're meeting all our customer requirements in between."
Fonterra's Covid-19 incident management team had been tasked to respond to new developments and were "well practised" at this stage, Cronin said.
"There's continuing energy and stamina needed to keep on top of things but it's looking not too bad."
The co-op had had safety controls in place throughout the pandemic, which it scaled up or down depending on the risk, Cronin said.
"We've always been pretty cautious with our safety for our people and for our production right through and that continues to be the same case through the red traffic light restrictions and we've taken all the necessary precautions that we need."
Cronin said he was "fully boosted" and strongly encouraged people to get a booster shot against Omicron "as soon as they can".
