Strong production, tested demand send milk prices crashing
Strong global milk production and rebalancing of demand among key buyers has delivered one of the biggest drops in whole milk powder prices in recent years.
Key Results:
AMF index up 4.7%, average price US$3,797/MT
Butter index up 6.6%, average price US$2,871/MT
BMP index up 7.7%, average price US$1,661/MT
Ched index down 0.8%, average price US$2,889/MT
LAC index up 3.7%, average price US$741/MT
RenCas index up 16.3%, average price US$6,161/MT
SMP index up 2.1%, average price US$1,965/MT
WMP index up 9.9%, average price US$2,265/MT
ASB rural economist Nathan Penny says the overall result was stronger than their expectations heading in; they expected WMP prices to lift by between 5% and 7%.
The bounce was also broad-based. On top of the WMP increase, casein prices surged 16%, while butter and BMP rose 7% and 8%, respectively. Only cheddar prices recorded a fall.
"From here, we expect rapidly tightening global supply to lift prices further over 2016," he says.
