The upward trajectory in dairy prices continues this week, with butter rising by €275/t this week. That’s on top of the €385/t price lift last week, so that’s over €660/t of a jump in just two weeks. Butter is now sitting at €4,945/t on the European spot market price.

Down in New Zealand, the most recent Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction results show no real change, with overall prices down by 1.5%. Butter prices increased there by 3.8% to US$4,922/t (€4,624/t), while whole milk powder decreased by 2% to US$3,264/t, which is €3,066/t.

This shows that European spot market prices are outperforming the New Zealand auction at present. Staying in Europe, there was only small changes in the prices of cheddar and skim milk powder.

The quantity of product sold at the GDT auction held up at over 30,000t, with 158 bidders showing strong demand for dairy products.

Meanwhile, farmgate milk prices in Ireland continued to slide this week, with Dairygold and Tirlán both cutting prices - citing a worsened global milk market.

While this is undoubtedly true, the stabilisation and improvement in some key product lines is positive. The global rally in butter prices is particularly important for the Irish industry, which has a strong reliance on butter.

Milk prices across Europe continue to be cut, with Arla cutting prices by over 3c/l for all their European suppliers.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the times, the French dairy giant Sodiaal has given up on A and B pricing for milk. It is clearly concerned about milk supply.