The Global Dairy Trade (GDT) price index has fallen by 3.8% following the final auction of 2023 held earlier today (Tuesday, December 20).
This follows two positive trading events on December 6, when the dairy commodity tracker rose by 0.8% and on November 15, when a 2.4% increase was recorded.
Today’s auction saw an average price of $3,493/MT, with a total of 28,724MT of product sold today.
There were 149 participating bidders taking part in the trading event with 117 winning bidders.
The auction lasted for two hours and 39 minutes across 18 bidding rounds.
There were five products offered for sale, with all recording a decrease in average price.
Skim Milk Powder (SMP) dropped by 4.8% for an average of $2,965/MT. During the auction on December 6, SMP had climbed by 1.7% to $3,102/MT.
There was a 4% drop in the average price of Whole Milk Powder (WMP) to $3,246/MT.
Butter price fell by 2.6% to $4,602/MT, while Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF) decreased by 2.2% to $5,675/MT.
There was a 0.7% in the average price of cheddar to $4,801/MT.
Meanwhile, in other dairy-related news, Danish farmer Kjartan Poulsen has been elected as the new chair of the European Milk Board (EMB).
Poulsen, who is the former EMB deputy chair, said that he is planning to focus on farmer participation in the design and implementation of the EU Green Deal.
The organisation’s latest general assembly, saw German BDM representative Elmar Hannen selected as deputy chair.
President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Pat McCormack was also re-elected to the EMB board.
The EMB has members in 16 European countries representing around 100,000 milk producers.