“The recent strengthening in the Chinese yuan which improves the purchasing power of Chinese buyers, dry conditions in New Zealand restricting milk production and firmer international grain prices have all been supportive factors for dairy prices of late,” Bank of New Zealand interest rate strategist Nick Smyth said in a note.
The GDT price index gained 1.7% from the previous auction two weeks ago. The average price was US$3434 a tonne, compared with US$3371 a tonne two weeks ago. Some 33,165 tonnes of product was sold, up from 33,050 tonnes two weeks ago.
Whole milk powder rose 2.4% to US$3233 a tonne. Prices rose from 2% to 2.6% across all delivery dates, with regular grade prices for March delivery lifting 2.6%, NZX dairy analyst Robert Gibson said in a note.
Butter jumped 5.5% to US$4250 a tonne, while rennet casein rallied 4.7% to US$9375 a tonne.
Skim milk powder added 0.7% to US$3036 a tonne. “Only March deliveries experienced relatively strong price increases up 1.6%, but price changes were largely down on the previous event otherwise, according to Gibson.
Cheddar gained 0.6% to US$4048 a tonne, and lactose rose 0.5% to US$806 a tonne.
Bucking the trend, anhydrous milk fat dropped 2.6% to US$4821 a tonne.
Buttermilk powder and sweet whey powder were not offered at this event.
There were 143 winning bidders out of 191 participating at the 17-round auction. The number of registered bidders was 520, up from 519 at the previous auction. –BusinessDesk
