The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Big jump across the board in latest Global Dairy Trade auction

The Country
1 Dec, 2020 05:24 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Christmas joy has come early for New Zealand dairy farmers as prices leapt 4.6 per cent across the board in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, held overnight, with all indexes trending upwards.

Crucially, the Whole Milk Powder price - the biggest influencer on Fonterra's Farmgate milk price - charged ahead by 5.0 per cent to an average US$3,182/MT.

The Skim Milk Powder index - the second biggest influencer on milk price - followed closely behind, with a 3.6 per cent jump to an average US$2,889/MT.

Showing the biggest lift, but with very little in the way of volume on offer, Lactose shot up 13.5 per cent to an average US$1,004/MT.

The fats all showed increases as well - led by butter with a 3.8 per cent rise to an average US$3,986/MT. Anhydrous Milk Fat followed with a 2.6 per cent rise to an average US$4,278/MT, Cheddar came in up 2.4 per cent to an average US$3,734/MT and finally Butter Milk Powder increased 1.3 per cent to an average US$2,731/MT, but with very little product on offer also.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A total of 32,062MT of product was sold - lower than in recent auctions, but still attracting 112 bidders over 16 rounds.

In a market update on October 15, Fonterra increased the midpoint of its forecast farmgate milk price for the 2020/21 season by 40 cents to $6.80, but retained its $1 range of between $6.30 and $7.30.

Fonterra Chief Financial Officer Marc Rivers said the "bullish" result was "very pleasing" and it would have a positive effect on the economy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"What it means is 145 million New Zealand dollars into the economy," Rivers told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

Strong participation from China contributed to the 5 per cent leap in Whole Milk Powder, while Skim Milk Powder's rise of 3.6 per cent meant it was around a $450 premium compared to European and US competition, Rivers said.

"So people are clearly valuing the provenance of New Zealand and the way we make the powder."

Butter's rise of 3.8 per cent meant it was "about to touch 4000 US dollars per metric tonne," but the strong result was difficult to pin down to Covid-19 restrictions in the Northern Hemisphere, Rivers said.

Discover more

Business

Global dairy prices rebound at auction

17 Nov 04:55 PM
Business

Prices drop in latest Global Dairy Trade Auction

03 Nov 05:26 PM

Photography and farming the perfect mix for Edwin

18 Nov 10:45 PM

Petition seeks rewrite of freshwater regulations

01 Dec 11:00 PM

Listen below:

"On the one hand people are baking more at home for sure, on the other hand, the big use of butter would be at restaurants - so it's quite a switch there - and hard to see how exactly that's going to play out."

Meanwhile, Fonterra's milk volume forecasts were "still about the same" as what was projected at the start of the season, despite predictions of a La Niña summer, Rivers said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury

The Country

Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country

The Country

Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury
The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury

One person was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.

17 Jul 02:26 AM
Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country
The Country

Chris Hipkins ponders a grand coalition on The Country

17 Jul 01:45 AM
Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year
The Country

Celebrations start Saturday for Poverty Bay A&P Association's 150th year

16 Jul 11:26 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP