Dairy product prices fell at the Global Dairy Trade auction, dragged lower by an unexpected plunge in anhydrous milk fat.
The GDT price index slipped 0.6 per cent from the previous auction two weeks ago but whole milk powder rose 1.6 per cent to US$3,278 a tonne.
Rabobank's dairy analyst Emma Higgins spoke to The Country's Rowena Duncum saying even though it's the auction's fourth consecutive decrease it's not all bad news.
Higgins says the results are "a bit of a tale of two stories," and the major drivers dragging results down were weaker skim milk powder (SMP) prices and a sharp decline in anhydrous milk fat (AMF) pricing.
Yet while the average SMP price dropped by -1.8% to USD1849/tonne there is price support for New Zealand SMP, and it remains at a premium to most European-sourced SMP which is "a little bit of a silver lining," says Higgins.
