International dairy prices fell for the third time in a row at this morning's GlobalDairyTrade auction, the GDT price index falling by 3.6 per cent since the last sale, driven mostly by weakness in skim milk powder.
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Among the major products, wholemilk powder prices dropped by 4.3 per cent to US$2446 a tonne and skim milk powder dropped by 7.8 per cent to US$2253 a tonne.
Wholemilk prices - which are central to Fonterra's farmgate milk price forecasts - remain higher than the $2270 a tonne achieved at the last sale for 2014 but are 38.7 per cent down from this time last year.
"While New Zealand skim milk powder continues to trade at a premium to skim milk powder from other origins, this evening's drop has begun to close that gap," Mike McIntyre, head of derivatives at First NZ Capital, said.