The first Global Dairy Trade (GDT) of 2025 continues where 2024 left off, with mixed signals coming from dairy markets in the southern hemisphere. Butter and cheese moved up, but this wasn’t enough to offset the effect of weaker whole milk powder (WMP) and skim milk powder (SMP) and the index was down 1.4% to $4,029 (€3,911) per tonne.
The first Global Dairy Trade (GDT) of 2025 continues where 2024 left off, with mixed signals coming from dairy markets in the southern hemisphere.
Butter and cheese moved up, but this wasn’t enough to offset the effect of weaker whole milk powder (WMP) and skim milk powder (SMP) and the index was down 1.4% to $4,029 (€3,911) per tonne.
There was a fall of over 2% in both, with SMP dropping to $2,682/t (€2,604), while WMP fell to $3,804/t (€3,693).
This is the second fall in succession for milk powders at the GDT following a strong fourth quarter performance for powders up to this point.
Butter, on the other hand, reversed the falling trend of the three previous auctions, with a 2.6% increase this week to $6,815/t (€6,616), while cheddar also posted a small increase, up 1% to $4,728/t (€4,590).
The GDT is also out of step with European SMP and WMP values, with the DCA value for cheese in week 51 at €4,450/t, WMP at €4,350/t and butter at €7,769/t. SMP in Europe was lower than the GDT at €2,515.
Meanwhile, plans are progressing to further the merger of FrieslandCampina and Milcobel, which was announced the week before Christmas. It is subject to approval by antitrust authorities and approval and members of each business.
Both are farmer-owned and if the merger goes ahead, it will create a dairy business with €14bn turnover and 22,000 staff. It would process approximately 10 billion kg of milk, supplied by 11,000 farms and have 16,000 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.
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