GDT drop disappointing — Feds

Federated Farmers dairy industry chair Andrew Hoggard says other indicators are also showing weak demand.

"While it's a concern to have had three drops in a row, this is balanced to some extent by the increase in the earnings per share announced by Fonterra earlier this week, which does give a little morale booster by signalling that improvements are happening in the value add space at least, within Fonterra," says Hoggard.

"Farmers are a pragmatic bunch and have long since accepted that this will be a difficult season. While we obviously hope for stronger prices, dairy farmers have long since taken steps to reduce costs and equip themselves to weather the storm," says Hoggard.

This morning's GlobalDairyTrade auction saw the GDT price index down 7.9%, its third consecutive drop.

Milk powder prices tumbled; whole milk powder was down 11% to US$2148/tone and skim milk powder down 8% to US$1851/tonne.