Website of the YearPrices are up in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, to end 2020 on a high note for dairy farmers.
Across the board, the index rose 1.3 per cent - a third consecutive lift.
All products on offer recorded increases, with butter the biggest mover on 6.0 per cent to an average US$4,221/MT.
Whole Milk Powder - the biggest influencer on Fonterra's Farmgate milk price - backed up a 5.0 per cent gain in the previous event, with a smaller 0.5 per cent rise to an average US$3,210/MT.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.Skim Milk Powder - the second biggest influencer on milk price - crept ever closer to the US$3,000 mark, with a 1.2 per cent increase to an average US$2,930/MT.
Despite having low volumes on offer, Cheddar experienced a 4.2 per cent jump to an average US$3,893/MT. Anhydrous Milk Fat finished up 1.9 per cent to an average US$4,360/MT and Lactose wasn't far behind with a 1.5 per cent increase to an average US$1,024.
Butter Milk Powder and Sweet Whey Powder were not offered at this event.
A total of 31,701MT of product was sold, attracting 108 bidders over 14 rounds.
In a market update on December 4, Fonterra increased the midpoint of its forecast farmgate milk price for the 2020/21 season by 20 cents to $7.00, and lifted the bottom end of its range to between $6.70 and $7.30.
Yesterday, Rabobank also lifted its 2020/21 forecast from $6.35 to $7.00.
Fonterra's chief operating officer Fraser Whineray said the result was a "very solid" way to see out the end of 2020.
"We were pleased that there were increases – some of them small – but increases, for all of our products on offer," Whineray told The Country's Jamie Mackay.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.The results supported Fonterra's decision to raise its forecast milk price midpoint up 20 cents to $7.00, Whineray said.
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Fonterra chief operating executive Frasery Whineray on The Country below:
"We have to make those decisions with foresight, but it's nice to see the steadiness that we were expecting to see in the market in the near term is holding."
As peak milk period had past, Whineray said volumes on offer at the GDT auction would decline through to May.
Whineray remained wary about the future, despite the positive result in the latest GDT.
"One GDT, as we know, doesn't make a season. So, we've still got to see how things play out in calendar 21 with Covid [and] competition from overseas for our customers – but we're cautiously optimistic – as reflected in that announcement previously with the payout forecast."
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.The next trading event is on January 5.