Spot milk sparing bright spot on the dairy market

The largest price drop was, as mentioned, with cream. This appears to be partly a result of the weaker butter market. Skimmed milk concentrate also became slightly cheaper again, but extra volume of this product is coming onto the market because various powder manufacturers are going to powder slightly less. This is due to the weak market for milk powder. This way they save on drying costs and they also receive money for their product faster, it is said.

Less supply
Things were slightly different with spot milk, because there is already slightly less supply seasonally, and the warm weather of the last few weeks also has an effect. In addition, processors try to keep as much raw milk as possible away from the spot market.
The spot milk price is currently quite close to the raw material value of milk, but the factories' payment prices still remain above that, albeit much less than in the first months of the year.

This difference will probably become even smaller in the coming months with commodity prices continuing to fall.
Room also dropped considerably in price last week. The butter quotation still held up at that time. This week the positives ended and the price moved in the other direction. More cheap Irish and Polish supply came onto the market and an increasing number of buyers succumbed to this. In addition, the effect of the beginning of the holiday period is being felt and there are also quite a few stocks. The price for the Dutch, German and Belgian product is still holding up a bit, the alternative offer is easily around €300 per tonne.

Skimmed milk powder is also more difficult to sell. For this product in particular, the price for prompt delivery took a hit. Prices for this are quoted up to €2100 per tonne. For something further away it is less dramatic. A more modest overall effect is therefore visible in the DCA listing.

The valorization of the other commodity milk powders is less good, due to a combination of factors. Demand is weak in the international market. European exporters also suffer a lot from American and New Zealand competition, which aggressively try to sell their products in markets where a lot of European products normally go. This is because they also suffer from weak Chinese demand.

And not everything can be sold internally in the EU. Buyers there have already purchased a lot of product in advance, because they thought that milk prices would rise again in the second half of this year. Now they are often already well provided for and respond cautiously.

Mozzarella the weakest
Prices on the cheese market have also fallen slightly in the past few weeks, but the damage to producers there has been limited for the time being. However, demand is also starting to weaken here. Remarkably, summer product mozzarella suffers most from this. Yet the cheese price is generally holding up quite well. Especially considering the overall market situation.