The Global Dairy Trade (GDT) price index has fallen by 1.5% at the latest auction today (Tuesday, February 21), compared to the previous event.
On average, bidders paid $3,414/MT for products offered at the 326th event, which saw 30,693MT being sold.
This decline comes after a 3.2% increase in the GDP price index at the previous event where 32,582MT of product was sold at an average price of $3,456/MT.
GDT price index
Available data shows that of products offered, butter saw the biggest increase at 3.8% to an average price of $4,922/MT, followed by a 1.5% rise in the average price of cheddar to $5,086/MT.
Lower prices were recorded for anhydrous milk fat (AMF), skim milk powder (SMP), and whole milk powder (WMP) at declines of 2.6% to $5,447/MT; 2.4% to $2,769/MT; and 2.0% to $3,264/MT respectively.
In total 158 bidders participated in the event, of which 117 were winning bidders across 19 bidding rounds and a total duration of two hours and 31 minutes.
In 2022 almost 650,000MT of produce was traded at GDT events at a total value of $2.7 billion. The annual report said that SMP is still the most active product group for bidders, followed by WMP and AMF.
Milk prices
Meanwhile, Tirlán has become the latest processor to confirm that it is cutting the base price paid to farmers for milk supplied in January.
The Kilkenny-headquartered co-operative will pay a total of 56.08c/L, including VAT for January creamery milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein.
“Dairy market prices fell significantly from their record highs in the fourth quarter of 2022, with strong global milk supply volumes and subdued consumer demand due to inflationary pressures.
“In recent weeks, indications suggest that markets are stabilising, albeit at low levels relative to historically high farm input costs,” chair of Tirlán John Murphy said.