The vast majority of remaining skimmed milk powder (SMP) in European intervention was sold out last week, with the exception of 207t of product.

This product is left in Slovakia, which will later hold its own specific tender, AgriLand understands.

Some 510t of SMP in Spain and 389t from the UK were shifted at the most recent auction in Europe, which took place on Thursday, May 23.

This product was sold out at ā‚¬1,675/t; up from the ā‚¬1,660/t fetched at the Easter tender, which had been the previous auction.

Only a specific Slovakia tender will be held in the future to remove the last tonnage, according to sources.

Meanwhile, last week also saw the most recent Global Dairy Trade (GDT) index hit its first decrease in 12 auctions on Tuesday, May 21, bringing with it the first negative result of 2019.

The latest GDT auction ā€“ event 236 ā€“ concluded with the GDT Price Index down 1.2% on its previous result.

Lasting two hours and 33 minutes, last week’s auction saw 149 bidders compete across 20 rounds with 100 winning bidders emerging.

A total of 15,510MT of product was sold on the day.

Cheddar was the big winner at the event, seeing a 15.2% increase in index, while rennet casein also put in a strong showing, with a rise of 5.1%.

On the flip side, butter saw a 3.2% decrease in index, while whole milk powder (WMP) also dropped by 2.1%. Anhydrous milk fat also fell by 1.4% today.