It has been a positive week for dairy markets as the GDT recorded its fourth consecutive increase, with average selling prices lifting a further 1.7% at this week’s auction.

However, the marginal decline (-0.2%) in the price of whole milk powder (WMP) at this week’s GDT will be of concern given that the strong rise in milk powder prices has driven the recent turnaround in the benchmark dairy index.

Just hours after this latest positive GDT result, New Zealand dairy co-op Fonterra announced a 50c increase in its forecast milk price for the 2016/2017 milking season to $5.25/kg of milk solids (23.7c/l).

At home, LacPatrick, Aurivo and Dairygold all rounded off the August milk price increase last week. All co-ops increased milk price in August by between 1c/l and 2.5c/l.