The Global Dairy Trade (GDT) price index has dropped by a further 5% following its latest trading event which took place earlier today (Tuesday, August 2).
The index, which now stands at 1,163, has returned to levels last seen during August 2021.
It follows a record high last March when the dairy commodity index peaked at 1,593.
The index has now suffered four consecutive falls since the auction on June 7; following the previous trading event held on July 19 there was also a 5% decline.
The average price achieved during trading event 313 was $3,913 with 27,500MT of product sold.
The minimum supply was 25,210MT and the maximum supply 28,700MT.
Of the 161 bidders participating, 120 were successful, in the auction which lasted for for one hour and 56 minutes across 15 bidding rounds.
All of the dairy commodities offered for sale recorded a drop in their average price. Lactose and sweet whey powder (SWP) were not sold during this event.
Butter milk powder (BMP), which was not offered for sale during the previous event, dropped by 9.2% to $3,724/MT
Whole milk powder (WMP), which was down by 5.1% in July 19 auction, fell by a further 6.1% to to stand at an average of $3,544/MT.
Following an 8.6% drop last time out, skim milk powder (SMP) recorded a 5.3% decrease for an average price of $3,524/MT.
Butter was down by 6.1% to $5,194/MT, while the average price of cheddar was $4,798/MT, down 0.7%.
Next Tuesday (August 9), GDT will begin a pilot project using smaller single product auction aiming to enhance liquidity in GDT by providing price discovery on a more frequent basis.
Initially, ‘GDT Pulse’ will offer auctions on alternate weeks between the larger trading events for a period of 6-12 months.
The auctions will offer one product specification to bid on: Fonterra Whole Milk Powder (WMP) Regular, Contract Period 2.
GDT explained that this will ensure a short total duration of 15–30 minutes for bidders.
