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

Fonterra diverts more milk powder away from GDT, futures rally

Jamie Gray
By Jamie Gray
Business Reporter·NZ Herald·
18 Jul, 2021 04:22 AM3 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

Fonterra is selling more whole milk powder due to high demand.. Photo / Supplied

Fonterra is selling more whole milk powder due to high demand.. Photo / Supplied

Fonterra's decision last week to divert more whole milk powder away from the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction platform - its second such move in a month - is expected to be supportive for the price of New Zealand's single biggest export.

The co-op, in a communication to markets, said its total GDT offer for whole milk powder had been reduced by 19,500 tonnes between August and November this year.

In addition, the offer for this Wednesday's auction had been reduced by 1000 tonnes.

Together, those tonnages equate to an entire GDT auction's worth of whole milk powder.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"These changes are the result of extremely strong demand for whole milk powder over the next six months outside of the GDT events platform," Fonterra said in its statement.

Whole milk powder futures prices rallied by 1 to 2 per cent on the news.

"It will have a material impact, particularly going into November because that's heading into the peak of season," one derivatives specialist said.

"It set the market on fire a bit. We don't have much selling interest in the whole milk powder contract - everyone is a buyer."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said it looked like the market was consolidating since hitting its peak in March.

"It's hard to be bearish after that sort of announcement," he said.

Early this month, Fonterra said it had reduced the total offer for whole milk powder on the GDT platform by 9240 tonnes between August and January 2022.

Whole milk powder prices have generally been in decline over the last few months.

At the last sale on July 7, it traded at US$3864 a tonne, down from its peak in March of US$4364.

Despite recent weakness, Fonterra has set out a robust farmgate milk price range for the 2021/22 season of $7.25-$8.75 per kg of milksolids, with a midpoint of $8 per kg.

An $8/kg milk price, if it came to pass, would be one of the strongest on record.

The price of paid for whole milk powder on the GDT platform feeds into or "informs" the eventual farmgate milk price.

Fonterra said its forecast offer for skim milk powder - another important product for the farmgate milk price - over the next 12 months would remain unchanged but 4400 tonnes had been moved from August/September to October through to February 2022.

In addition, the offer quantity of skim milk powder for Wednesday's event has been reduced by 250 metric tonnes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Fonterra had a strong season, production-wise.

In its latest update, milk collection for the 2020/21 season to May 31 was 1,539.2 million kg of milksolids, 1.5 per cent ahead of last season's total.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

The Country: Todd McClay on carbon farming

26 Jun 01:51 AM
Opinion

Opinion: Are rising butter prices bad news?

25 Jun 11:18 PM
The Country

NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep

25 Jun 10:36 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

The Country: Todd McClay on carbon farming

The Country: Todd McClay on carbon farming

26 Jun 01:51 AM

Todd McClay, Wayne Langford, Hamish Marr, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, and Chris Russell.

Opinion: Are rising butter prices bad news?

Opinion: Are rising butter prices bad news?

25 Jun 11:18 PM
NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep

NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep

25 Jun 10:36 PM
Strengthening the Eastern Bay farming community

Strengthening the Eastern Bay farming community

25 Jun 10:04 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

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