Last week proved to be “very weak” for European dairy quotations, according to multi-national financial services firm StoneX.

The average prices of butter, skim milk powder (SMP), whey and whole milk powder (WMP) all moved lower.

The butter index dropped by €152 or 2.1% to €7,051, driven by falls in German, French and Dutch quotations.

However, it should be noted that the average butter price still sits 51% above where it was this time last year.

SMP moved down by almost 2% to €3,628, but again that index remains 29% above the same period in 2021.

There was a 2.5% drop in the average whey price to €938 which is now 5.4% below where it was 12 months ago.

StoneX noted that the fall was less sharp for the WMP index dropping by 0.4% to €4,882. The average price for WMP is still 43% above October 2021 levels.

Last week was also mostly negative for the EEX Weekly European Cheese Indices with all categories except cheddar curd posting losses.

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The StoneX dairy analysis also noted that milk collections in Italy during August were back 3% year-on-year.

Collections for the eight months to August now total 8.89 million tonnes, down 0.3% on last year’s 8.92 million tonnes.

Eurostat reported that fat stood at 3.74%, while protein came in at 3.38%.

In France, collections for August came in at 1.88 million tonnes, which is down 2.5% on last year. Fat content was reported at 3.93% and protein was at 3.16%.

In Belgium, milk production in August was up 3.3% on the 363kt collected 12 months earlier and a new record for Belgian milk production in August.

Fat came in at 3.99%, down from 4.09% in 2021 while protein content was 3.33% compared with 3.39%.

Following two consecutive year-on-year declines in June and July, milk collections in Argentina were up 0.6% or 1.09 million tonnes in August compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased their US milk production forecast for this year and 2023.

The 2022 forecast increased to 102.92 million tonnes, which would see production move 0.3% ahead of the volume collected in 2021.

USDA is predicting that production will increase by 1% in 2023 to 103.96 million
tonnes.