Prices for whole milk power (WMP) increased by 2.9% at Tuesday’s GDT auction in New Zealand with around 10% more WMP on offer compared with the last event two weeks ago.

Prices for skim milk power (SMP) fell by 10.1% but butter continued to trade strongly with prices increasing by 4.9%.

Anhydrous milk fat was up 3.0% and rennet casein increased by 3.6%. Cheddar and lactose had marginal price drops by 1.0% and 2.7%, respectively.

Overall, there were 22,498mt of product sold over 12 bidding rounds at the latest auction. This represents an 0.7% increase compared to 22,328mt sold at the last GDT event a fortnight ago.

Previous results

Tuesday’s auction follows on from two consecutive drops in the GDT price index with a 3.2% drop seen at the end of February and a 6.3% drop at the last auction a fortnight ago.

The latest result also comes on the back of an unsettled week for WMP futures markets last week. It ended with no overall change in WMP futures despite a significant 5% midweek rise.

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