Butter commodity prices have taken a significant jump in the last week, as spikes in the GDT auction and the Ornua PPI index take a grip of the market.

Butter prices are now reaching prices last seen in 2018 at this time of the year and are running 38% ahead of the same period last year.

Skim milk prices are now about 33% ahead of the same period last year.

GDT moves up again

As milk price and milk flow peaks in New Zealand, the most recent GDT auction result has lifted 4.3%.

In this auction, whole milk powder was up 2.7% and skim milk powder was up 6.6%.

This result will be a massive boost to the New Zealand dairy industry at this time of the year as seasonal supply peaks.

The net effect and knock-on to international trade and on Irish prices will be significant also.

The most recent auction before this result was 19 October and that auction was up 2.2%.

The last six auctions in a row have been positive since the middle of August and reinforces the rising upward trend of dairy commodities since then.

Ornua PPI

Ornua released its PPI index this week and it’s up the equivalent of 1.3c/litre over last month.

Next week, the Ornua board meets and, after that, the Irish co-op boards will meet to set October prices.

While they all lifted for September price, there will be calls for another lift for October now that the market is rising significantly.