The latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction in New Zealand has seen the index price fall for a third consecutive time – suffering the largest decrease seen in months.
The overall price index fell by 3.5% from the most recent event last month. This follows decreases of 1% shown at the last event on October 17, and 2.4% on October 3.
This is the largest fall in price since January of this year, when the first GDT auction of 2017 dropped by 3.9%. Lasting for two hours and nine minutes, today’s auction featured 14 rounds of bidding with a total of 133 winning bidders.
- AMF index up 0.5%, average price US$6,894/MT;
- Butter index down 3.6%, average price US$5,516/MT;
- BMP index up 7.2%, average price US$1,931/MT;
- Ched index down 2.8%, average price US$4,001/MT;
- LAC not offered;
- RenCas index down 4.0%, average price US$5,465/MT;
- SMP index up 1.2%, average price US$1,818/MT;
- WMP index down 5.5%, average price US$2,852/MT.
The biggest change in the GDT auction saw butter milk powder (BMP) jump by 7.2%, having not been on offer at the last event. However, whole milk powder (WMP) suffered a sharp decline of 5.5% and rennet casein (RenCas) also dropped by 4.0%.
Source: Global Dairy Trade
Meanwhile, on the co-op front, it has been confirmed that an agreement has been reached over a pay dispute between Kerry Group and 290 workers at its Listowel plant.
The dispute was settled on Friday, November 3, after workers and management came to an agreement – following a series of 24-hour strikes since the end of September.
On September 26, approximately 290 workers took part in the first 24-hour work stoppage at the dairy processing plant.
Following discussions between management and workers, it is understood that an agreement has been reached in relation to: pay up until mid-2020; the implementation of SAP IT technology; as well as operational procedures on-site.