Prices have dropped slightly in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, held overnight, with a 0.3 per cent decrease across the board.

This follows an increase from two weeks ago of 1.2 per cent and a 0.8 per cent increase from the event before that.

There was no change for whole milk powder — which has the biggest impact on Fonterra’s farmgate milk price — which held steady at an average of US$3553/MT.

Skim milk powder — Fonterra’s second-biggest reference product — dropped 1.8 per cent to an average of US$2754/MT.

On the positive side, cheddar recorded the largest increase — up 4.2%, to an average of US$4702/MT, and anhydrous milk fat gained a modest 0.3% to an average of US$7229/MT.

However, it was all downhill from there.

Butter slipped 0.3 per cent to an average of US$6495/MT, this is after a 1.4 per cent drop at the previous auction.

Lactose dropped 5.8 per cent to an average of US$895/MT, a far cry from two weeks ago when it recorded the largest increase of 6.7 per cent .

The biggest percentage fall came from mozzarella, which plunged 8.2 per cent to an average of US$4559/MT.

Mozzarella also fell the hardest at the previous event, crashing 7.7 per cent .

Butter milk powder was not available at this event.

A total of 38,956 MT of product was purchased by 127 successful bidders, compared to 38,848 MT and 140 winning bidders last time.

On September 25, Fonterra revised its farmgate milk price forecast for the 2024/25 season, to between $8.25/kgMS and $9.75/kgMS, with a midpoint of $9/kgMS.

This follows from August 23, when Fonterra’s farmgate milk price forecast was between $7.75/kgMS and $9.25/kgMS, with a midpoint of $8.50/kgMS.

The final farmgate milk price for the 2023-2024 season was $7.83/kgMS milk solids.

-The Country