Dairy market chugs along quietly

There is no shortage of milk in Northwestern Europe thanks to the cool and wet summer. Although the spring was dry, the rainfall deficit is increasingly fading into the background in many places. The 'Dutch summer' will continue in the coming weeks, according to the forecasts. Europe-wide, supply in the first 5 months of this year was 2% ahead of last year, although some shifts are visible between the countries. In Germany, supply in mid-June is slightly above last year's level.

Liquid dairy
Although more Dutch, Belgians and Germans are spending their holidays in their own country this year, the demand for fresh dairy products (such as ice cream products) is not excessively high. There is therefore no question of a revival on the liquid dairy market, as can sometimes be the case during hot summer weeks. Cream prices briefly moved above the €4.000 per tonne mark. Skim milk concentrate is trading at levels briefly below $2.000. The availability of both liquid products is not excessively large, which indicates that factories process the lion's share themselves into skimmed milk powder and butter. Spot milk is hardly traded there.

Cheese and milk powder
There is also little activity on the cheese, butter and milk powder markets. There are no incentives to move the market. The falling butter price on the Global Dairy Trade this week underlines that the undertone in the butter market is weak in the longer term. Especially now that milk production in New Zealand is increasing again and supplies in Europe are ample. In the milk powder and cheese market (apart from cheddar, which is rising somewhat), there is neither a decrease nor an increase in prices. All in all, the market is in line with the stable milk price trend for August Arla announced this week.

Click here for explanation of the DCA quotations (liquid) 
Click here for explanation of the DCA quotations (cheese)