Prices are up in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, held overnight, by 1.6 per cent across the board.
The modest increase comes after a flat previous event on November 22, where prices hadn’t moved much from the November 8 auction beforehand.
While anhydrous milk fat didn’t budge, remaining at US$5573/metric ton, the rest of the products on offer were on the up.
Whole milk powder rose 2.1 per cent to an average of US$3104/MT and skim milk powder — Fonterra’s second-biggest reference product — increased 1.2 per cent to an average of US$2671/MT.
Butter was up a bit to 0.7 per cent to an average of US$4936/MT and buttermilk powder lifted 2.8 per cent to an average of US$2387/MT.
Lactose had a respectable jump of 5.3 per cent to an average of US$793/MT.
However, the largest leap went to cheddar, with an impressive rise of 9.7 per cent to an average of US$3986/MT.
Newcomer mozzarella was offered at this auction for the first time, at an average of US$4005/MT.
A total 29,559MT of product was purchased by 123 successful bidders, out of 168 participating bidders overall.
On October 9, Fonterra raised its forecast farmgate milk price for 2023-24 — to a range of $6.50–$8/kgMS, with a midpoint of $7.25.
This followed downgrades on August 18 to $6-$7.50/kgMS, with a midpoint of $6.75, and on August 4 of $6.25-$7.75/kgMS.