World dairy prices fall 2.4pc in overnight auction

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prices have fallen in the latest online dairy auction, run by Fonterra overnight.

The benchmark trade weighted index fell 2.4 per cent, with whole milk powder falling the most of the different products traded, down 5.6 per cent.

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The latest ANZ Commodity Price Index released this week showed record hights for New Zealand produced commodities.

The index rose 4.7 per cent to 336.9 in March, taking its annual gain to almost 30 per cent.

For the first time in 17 years, all 17 commodity prices rose in the month.

Wool and whole milk powder prices were the biggest gainers in the March commodity index, each up 12 per cent, with skim milk powder, lumber and skins gaining 7 per cent.

Trade Minister Tim Groser told a dairy conference in Rotorua this week that New Zealand's commodity export prices could stay near record highs for as long as a decade.

"For the next five to 10 years it seems plausible to believe that the era of declining commodity prices, not just for dairy, is over," Groser said.

"The fact it's moving in an upward trendline is of immense benefit to us," Groser said. "It's not plausible to see anything other than a bright future ahead."

NZ HERALD ONLINE