There was no real changes to the European dairy market this week, despite a bit more positivity in the butter market, with prices going up by around €100/t to €3,800/t, which is still a low price given where butter was for most of 2025.

Powders and cheddar cheese are all stable enough, with no dramatic price movements either up or down.

The futures market for almost all dairy product categories has improved in the last week, buoyed by the better than expected Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction in New Zealand last week.

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This week’s GDT pulse auction for skim milk powder (SMP) saw prices go up by 3%, while the price for whole milk powder (WMP) went up by 3.1%, which is positive.

The next GDT auction is on 19 May, so it’ll be interesting to see the demand at that stage.

Meanwhile, milk supplies in the US continue to drive on, with the latest figures for March supplies showing flows up 2.4% compared with last year, while the year-to-date figure is an increase of 2.9%.

Positives

The only real positive is that the rate of gain is slowing, but it’s still growing.

At the DIN conference in London last week, all the analysts said that they expect to see supplies fall back in the latter half of 2026.

At this moment in time, it’s hard to see that happen when supplies in Germany and the US are powering ahead.

If it wasn’t for such strong demand for dairy proteins, the global milk price would be much lower than it is.

The price for WPC 80 (80% whey protein concentrate) is hitting almost €25,000/t, which is an indicator of the demand for whey.