Global Dairy Trade auction sees prices dip 1.6%, whole milk powder down 3.7%

It's the first GDT auction of the new dairy season. Photo / Rowena Duncum

The new season opened with a 1.6% price drop across the board in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction.

This follows a 0.9% dip from the previous auction, two weeks ago.

Whole milk powder, which has the biggest impact on Fonterra’s farmgate milk price, was down 3.7%, to an average of US$4173/MT.

Skim milk powder - Fonterra’s second-biggest reference product – fell 1.1%, to an average of US$2807/MT.

Cheddar slipped 4.2%, to an average of US$4759/MT, following a 9.2% slump at the previous event.

Lactose dipped 2.0% to an average of US$1371/MT, after tanking by 13.2% two weeks ago.

Butter milk powder recorded the largest fall, sinking 6.1% to an average of US$2834/MT. It was not available at the previous auction.

No percentage change for butter, at 0.0% with an average of US$7811/MT.

On to the positive reference products, with anhydrous milk fat up 1.4% to an average of US$7373/MT, and mozzarella’s 2.3% lift to an average of US$4897/MT.

Both products were positive in the previous auction as well, with anhydrous milk fat up 0.9% and mozzarella rising 0.7%.

A total of 16,307 MT of product was purchased by 117 successful bidders, similar to the 15,194 MT and 110 winning bidders last time.

On May 29, Fonterra announced an opening forecast farmgate milk price for the 2025/26 season of $10.00 per kgMS, with a wide forecast range of $8.00 - $11.00 per kgMS.

The forecast for the 2024/25 season was left unchanged at a range of between $9.70kgMS - $10.30kgMS -with a $10.00kgMS midpoint.