There was little enough movement in the dairy markets this week, with butter prices holding steady at where they were, which in reality is not good news given how low it is.

The chink of light was for skim milk powder (SMP), which increased in price by €125/t on the European spot market to reach €2,775/t.

This price is now a good bit behind the SMP price at the GDT pulse auction, which increased again this week by €100/t to €2,932/t.

In contrast, whole milk powder (WMP) at the pulse auction was flat, only increasing by a minimal €10/t.

European prices

Back to Europe, the price for WMP is unchanged this week at €3,350/t, while cheese prices dropped a bit again this week to go to €3,430/t.

This price is for cheddar cheese, which has dropped about €200/t over the last few weeks.

It’s interesting to note that mozzarella prices have been more or less tracking cheddar prices, as have continental cheeses such as Edam and Gouda. While the values may be different, the markets tend not to diverge too much.

It’s interesting because some of the Irish co-ops are now big players in continental cheeses and mozzarella.

Speaking to the co-ops over the last few weeks, they seem happy with their decisions to enter these markets. One of the reasons is that these tend to be early maturing, soft cheeses.

This means that the turnaround time from milk into product out and cash out to cash in is shorter with these types of cheeses compared with the typical mature cheddar, which could be sitting in maturation facilities for six months before it can be sold.