This week’s GDT auction in New Zealand saw average dairy commodity prices fall 0.5% to bring a halt to the recent price rally. Skimmed milk powder (SMP) led the benchmark dairy index lower with prices weakening by 3% this week to just over $1,800/t (€1,480/t).

In contrast, whole milk powder (WMP) prices held steady (+0.3%) this week at just under $3,250/t (€2,630/t). On the fats side, butter prices increased by just over 1% at this week’s auction to $5,330/t (€4,320/t). This follows similar trends for butter prices in Europe over the last week. The price of anhydrous milk fat fell by 2%.

Cheddar prices at this week’s GDT fell slightly (-1.3%) to just below $3,700/t (€3,000/t), while casein prices were up by less than 1%. Just over 20,000t of product was sold at this week’s auction in New Zealand.