The Ornua Purchase Price Index (PPI) has risen for the month of May, the dairy exporter has confirmed.

Announced earlier today, Thursday, June 6, Ornua revealed that its PPI index for May 2019 is 107.3, adjusted from 105.9 in April.

This converts to 32.1c/L, including VAT, based on Ornua’s product purchase mix and assumed costs of 6.5c/L.

The adjustment for May reflects higher powder prices and flat returns for butter, combining to offset lower cheddar returns, according to Ornua.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) fell in its most recent auction on Tuesday, June 4, in what was the largest index change in eight tenders.

This week’s auction – Event 237 – concluded with the GDT Price Index down 3.4%.

Lasting six minutes short of the two-hour mark, the event saw 148 participating bidders battle across 13 rounds with 107 winning bidders emerging when the dust had settled.

A total of 19,874MT of product was sold on the day.

Cheddar, butter and butter milk powder (BMP) were the big losers on the day, with index drops of 14%, 10.3% and 10.1%, respectively.

Anhydrous milk fat (AMF), skimmed milk powder (SMP) and whole milk powder (WMP) also saw index prices drop, with reductions of 5.7%, 4% and 1.5%, respectively.

The only increases at Tuesday’s event saw rennet casein increase by 4.2%, while lactose (LAC) also rose a modest 0.4%