After a bright start to 2016, there is now growing concern about the health of import demand for dairy commodities from Chinese buyers.

For the first three months of 2016, Chinese dairy imports have increased almost 40% compared to where they were in 2015 with just under 630,000t of product snapped up by Chinese buyers.

The improvement in imports had given hope in some quarters that Chinese demand was finally recovering after imports halved in 2015.

However, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that at the latest GDT auction in New Zealand, which surprised many by recording a 1.4% decline, participation by Chinese buyers was extremely weak.

Of the 20,600t of product sold at last week’s GDT, as little as 10 to 20% was bought by Chinese buyers.

Demand for SMP and WMP in particular, the two most important products traded on the auction platform, was very low, with China buying less than 1,000t of both products on the day.