Global Dairy Trade (GDT) has announced that US dairy processor, Darigold, Inc. will be offering skim milk powder (SMP) at GDT events from June 2023.
Headquartered in Seattle, Darigold is the marketing and processing subsidiary of the Northwest Dairy Association, which was founded in 1918.
Owned by over 350 dairy farmers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, Darigold is one of the largest dairy processors in the US, supplying retail, foodservice, commodity and specialty markets.
The co-op processes over 4.5 billion kilograms of milk solids at 11 plants annually, exporting upwards of 40% of its production to customers in more than 30 overseas markets.
Co-op
Darigold chief executive, Joe Coote said that the co-op is looking to grow its domestic and global business.
It is currently constructing a US$600 million (€549 million) production facility to expand butter and powdered milk products.
When the facility becomes operational in 2024 it will process an additional 3.6 million kilograms of milk solids per day.
Coote said that working with GDT will expand the co-op’s reach into more markets and to more customers.
US
Darigold will be the first seller on GDT Events since the new ownership structure was put in place in June last year.
The European Energy Exchange AG (EEX), Fonterra and New Zealand Exchange (NZX) each hold an equal one-third (33.33%) shareholding in GDT.
Global Dairy Trade chief executive Eric Hansen said the deal represents “a significant development for GDT in building traction in the US”.
“We are thrilled to have Darigold join GDT as we want to build out the US export reference prices and this is another major step in that direction. This is right on strategy,” Hansen said.
“In line with our three-year strategic plan, we are seeking new sellers from all global milk pools to provide our bidders with more choice and enable GDT to publish credible reference prices for more products and across more regions,” he added.
The GDT auction service brings together buyers and sellers of globally traded dairy products from 60 countries to trade US$ 2-3 billion annually.
This represents more than 600,000t of product each year. GDT passed its 325th trading event in the first quarter of 2023.
The GDT index recorded its fourth consecutive decrease, after falling by 4.7% in the latest trading event held on April 4.
The last time the index saw a similar decrease was on October 18, last, when it fell by 4.6%.