The Global Dairy Trade (GDT) price index has dropped by 2.8% following its latest auction held earlier today (Tuesday, January 3).
The average price at the 323rd event was $3,365/MT, with a total of 33,478MT sold.
All seven products offered for sale at the first event of 2023 recorded a decline in average price.
This is the second consecutive drop in the GDT price index. At the final auction of 2022 the index fell by 3.8%.
A total of 132 bidders participated in the GDT’s latest auction across 18 bidding rounds, with 114 winning bidders over two hours and 24 minutes.
The average price sold for whole milk powder (WMP) fell by 1.4% to $3,208/MT, compared to $3,246/MT at the previous event at the end of December.
Skim milk powder dropped by 4.3% to an average of $2,838/MT.
Anhydrous milk fat, lactose, and butter milk powder recorded a decline of 5.1% to $5,395/MT, 3.6% to $1,178/MT, and 12.9% to $2,556/MT respectively.
The GDT price index for butter fell by 2.8% to $4,479/MT, and that of cheddar dropped by 2.7% to $4,690/MT.
Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Pat McCormack, has said that nitrates and the introduction of banding is the biggest challenge facing farmers.
As of January 1, 2023 there has been a number of changes to nitrates regulations that will affect livestock farmers.
A number of these measures will directly impact on dairy farmers, with some potentially having a significant impact on a farm’s potential output.
McCormack added that it is hugely disappointing to see the buoyancy that has been present in rural Ireland for the last 10 years “drained away” by the Food Vision Dairy Group.