World dairy prices slip 3pc in overnight auction

File photo / Sarah Ivey

Prices of dairy products sold on Fonterra's GlobalDairyTrade platform fell 3 percent to a two-month low in the latest auction.

The GDT-TWI Price dropped to US$3,545 per metric tonne from US$3,666 at the last sale a fortnight ago. The price of whole milk powder, which typically accounts for more than half the product sold on the platform, dropped 3 percent to a three-month low US$3,421 per metric tonne.

Some 32,339 tonnes of product was sold at the auction for a total price of some US$114.6 million.

See results of the auction here.

Anhydrous milk fat prices sank 11 percent to US$3,456, the biggest fall across all products. Cheddar prices declined 2.3 percent to US$3,559 per metric tonne, while milk protein concentrate fell 0.8 percent to US$5,571 per tonne.

Skim milk powder prices dropped 2.6 percent to US$3,259 per metric tonne, with the biggest decline coming from Dairy America's US low and medium heat regular skim milk powder.

The price of rennet casein bucked the trend, rising 1.1 percent to US$7,730 per metric tonne.

There were 117 winning bidders from 144 participants across 11 rounds at the latest sale. The number of qualified bidders rose to 575 from 558 at the last sale two weeks ago.