The upward trend has continued at the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction; the price index increased by 0.6% at today’s event.

The last time a decrease in the price index was recorded at a GDT auction was on March 7, 2017; six consecutive price increases have been recorded since then.

At the previous three GDT auctions, the price index has climbed by over 3% each time.

A total of 563 bidders were registered at the most recent GDT event, which lasted for close to two and a half hours; there were 125 winning bidders across the 16 bidding rounds.

The Cheddar index recorded an increase of 14.5% at the latest auction; the highest increase recorded at the event.

Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) recorded an increase of 7.9%, but Whole Milk Powder (WMP) dropped by 2.9%. The Butter index rose by 3.3% and the Butter Milk Powder (BMP) index increased by 5.8%.

Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) recently claimed that there is scope for a milk price increase, of up to 2c/L, to be announced for May supplies.

Historically high butter prices internationally, as well as more modest uplifts in the prices of other dairy commodities, have created a situation where Irish co-ops could increase farm-gate milk prices, the Chairman of the IFA’s National Dairy Committee, Sean O’Leary, said.

Higher EU-average market prices, bullish GDT auctions, rising spots and futures have all created the conditions to allow for a May milk price lift, of up to 2c/L, for Irish farmers, he said.

“Static Irish prices into April average out around 31.6c/L including VAT, but EU returns at the end of May would support a farm-gate price of 34.7c/L including VAT,” he added.