Dairy prices fall 5.9pc in overnight auction

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prices of dairy products fell in Fonterra's latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, mirroring a broader decline in New Zealand's primary sector exports in the face of doubts about the strength of the world's economic recovery.

The GDT-TWI Price Index fell 5.9 per cent compared to the last sale in June. The average winning price dropped to US$2,787 a metric tonne from US$3,042 a tonne two weeks ago. Whole milk powder, the biggest product by volume, fell 4.1 per cent to US$2,760 a tonne and skim milk powder fell 9.8 per cent to US$2,599 a tonne.

See more auction details here.

The sale comes a day after figures showed the ANZ Commodity Price Index, which measures a basket of New Zealand export commodities, fell to the lowest level in more than two years in June, as Europe's debt crisis weighed on global prices. Dairy prices fell to a 33-month low, led by whole milk powder, the ANZ index showed. Exporters are also feeling the impact of a kiwi dollar that has risen back above 80 US cents.

The total volume sold rose to 38,066 tonnes from 25,606 tonnes in the previous auction.

In the latest GDT auction, anhydrous milk fat fell 10.4 per cent to US$2,745 a tonne and cheddar dropped 0.7 per cent to US$3,060 a tonne. Butter milk powder fell 0.7 per cent to an average US$2,483 a tonne and lactose declined 3.8 per cent to US$1,916 a tonne.

Milk protein concentrate fell 3.6 per cent to US$4,065 a tonne and rennet casein fell 4.5 per cent to US$6,443 a tonne.

There were 132 winning bidders over 12 rounds. There were 168 participating bidders out of a total number of qualified bidders that rose to 681 from 667.