European dairy markets took a bit of a downward turn this week, with falls recorded in butter, cheese and whole milk powder (WMP). After weeks of rises for butter, the price fell below €8,000/t this week to €7,990/t, which is a €175/t drop.
European dairy markets took a bit of a downward turn this week, with falls recorded in butter, cheese and whole milk powder (WMP).
After weeks of rises for butter, the price fell below €8,000/t this week to €7,990/t, which is a €175/t drop.
Cheese also took a substantial fall, dropping by €170/t to €4,830/t after weeks of staying at €5,000/t. WMP also took a downward turn, with prices back €100/t.
There was better news for skim milk powder, with prices up by €80/t to hit €2,630/t.
Whether or not we are gone past the peak of price rises is too early to tell. Obviously, demand for dairy is still very strong and prices are very high, particularly for butter.
Some of this will be due to the fact that a lot of the buying activity in advance of Christmas will have now been met, so there will be a bit of a fall-off in demand.
Looking ahead, dairy markets are firm, with Chinese supply falling, which is creating hope that import demand will increase.
However, New Zealand milk supply is well up on the same period last year. Recent data from the US shows that supply increased by just under 0.5% in October 2024 compared with October 2023. In Australia, supplies for September are up about 1.5% compared with September 2023.
While supplies in Argentina are back sharply compared with 2023, the monthly reduction has slowed, with October supplies estimated to be back just 0.4% compared with the year before, although annual supplies are back a staggering 8.5% compared with last year.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: