The near-dated February contract for whole milk powder (WMP) closed yesterday at US$2080/t (-$45/t from Tuesday’s settlement price). The same contract for skim milk powder (SMP) closed at US$1800/t (-$50), anhydrous milkfat (AMF) futures closed at US$3650/t (no change) while butter futures were down $50 to close at US$3300/t.
Trade volumes have been high over the last two days, with 48 trades in total completed. WMP futures contracts accounted for 42 of the trades, with the remainder SMP futures. There was also one WMP put option traded, which provides the right to sell 500t of WMP futures at a strike price of US$2200/t. The trade was priced at US$120/t. The volumes for the futures contracts traded were small with almost all of them being less than 50t. There were 2 trades of 100t.
Prices have now dropped well below month-ago levels for WMP, SMP and AMF. Only butter prices remain above month ago levels, but the gap is not large.
Final settlement prices for the January 2016 futures contracts have been reached. WMP settled at US$2130/t, SMP at US$1860/t, AMF at US$3630/t and butter settled at US$3402.5/t. Milk powders both settled below the price they settled at in December, and that achieved in January 2015. AMF settled above the price it achieved both in December 2015 and in January 2015. The butter price was above that achieved in December, but below that achieved in January 2015.
