Milk Powder Prices Prop Up Farmgate Milk Price
Milk powder prices are keeping farmgate prices up, helping processors offset the dip in milk fat prices.
The GDT price index rose 3.2% compared to the previous auction; a strong demand for fat products saw big rise butter and anhydrous milk fat prices.
Surprisingly, the price for Fonterra’s flagship product, whole milk powder- rose 1.3% over the previous auction, despite the market forecasting a 2% drop. WMP price index now sits at US$3312/tonne.
Westpac senior market strategist Imre Speizer says the rise in GDT price index was led by fat products (butter up 11.2%).
“WMP was more subdued, up 1.3% which was slightly above futures prices which implied a 2% fall. The positive outturn has implications for analysts’ forecasts of the milk payout for the next season (2017-18),” he says.
Key Results
AMF index up 8.2%, average price US$6,631/MT
Butter index up 11.2%, average price US$5,479/MT
BMP index up 7.0%, average price US$1,980/MT
Ched index up 0.6%, average price US$3,726/MT
LAC index up 2.0%, average price US$967/MT
RenCas index down 3.7%, average price US$6,259/MT
SMP index up 1.0%, average price US$1,998/MT
WMP index up 1.3%, average price US$3,312/MT
