Commodities traded saw their price increase by 0.4% after four consecutive drops at previous auctions. Milk powders recovered some of the recently lost ground, especially SMP (+4.7%).

However, butter prices were down 11.1% and cheddar fell by 3.9%.

There was a drop in the volume of products sold, with 29,514t changing hands compared with more than 35,000t on 21 November.

Hogan warning

Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan told the Food Wise 2025 conference in Dublin this Monday that the recent increase in milk supply in Ireland, France and Germany was “the opposite of heeding market signals”.

“I believe it is very important that industry acts in concert across all EU member states to manage the supply side,” he said.

At the recent Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day, Hogan also warned that 370,000t of skim milk powder (SMP) sitting in public intervention could pose a threat to maintaining the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget as it is in the next EU budget.

“At a time when the next EU budget is being negotiated, I cannot have half a million tonnes of SMP in intervention stores,” Commissioner Hogan said.

“We are entering the key negotiation period for the next European budget, and the CAP is going to come under pressure as never before. You all understand the implications of Brexit, which is blowing a huge hole in the overall budget.”

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