Dairy product prices drop 2% in GDT auction

Dairy product prices drop 2% in GDT auction, first decline in four sales

Dec. 5 (BusinessDesk) – Prices of dairy products fell in Fonterra’s latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, the first decline in four sales, led by whole milk powder and cheddar..

The GDT-TWI Price Index dropped 2 percent compared to the last sale two weeks ago. The average winning price fell to US$3,290 a metric tonne from US$3,348 a tonne in the last auction. Whole milk powder, the biggest product by volume, fell 3.5 percent to US$3,170 a tonne and cheddar dropped 2.4 percent to US$3,372 a tonne.

The sale is the first since the debut of units in the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund on the NZX, which have jumped about 23 percent to $6.75 since listing last Friday, having sold in an initial public offering at $5.50. Today’s sales gives unitholders an update on global pricing of Fonterra’s products and may be reflected in the units when they resume trading today on the NZX and ASX.

The total volume sold rose to 52,596 tonnes from 48,335 tonnes two weeks ago.

Anhydrous milk fat rose 3.7 percent to US$3,197 a tonne. Only one contract date traded for butter milk powder, due Feb. 13, at a price of US$3.615, unchanged from the previous sale. Lactose wasn’t offered for sale.

Milk protein concentrate fell 1.2 percent to US$5,958 a tonne and rennet casein rose 0.3 percent to US$7,926 a tonne. Skim milk powder fell 1 percent to US$3,362 a tonne.

There were 141 winning bidders over 12 rounds. There were 178 participating bidders out of a total number of qualified bidders of 729.

(BusinessDesk)

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