Cream passes 10.000 euro mark for the first time

To be precise, the cream price is rising this week by €175 to €10.155 per tonne. That a dairy commodity would reach such a high level was unthinkable until a few years ago. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the cards in the market have clearly been shuffled differently and prices are structurally at a higher level. 

This realization has also dawned on retailers. Albert Heijn CEO Marit van Egmond specifically pointed out dairy in an interview this week as a product category where prices are persistently high. She mentioned beef, cocoa and coffee in the same breath.

Whether cream prices will continue to rise remains to be seen. The cream market is indeed receiving a lot of support from the equally high and also increasing butter prices, but the milk supply in North-Western Europe is about to tip. Historically, cream prices fall sharply from the end of November, when the broken weeks around the end of 2024 approach. Market participants are therefore expected to be alert. 

Stable spot milk prices, concentrate rises
The higher cream prices do not pull the spot milk prices up any further. The DCA spot milk quotation for Dutch milk stabilises this week at €61,50 per 100 kilos. There is not much trading going on. Processors are hardly inclined to sell milk, although they can collect more on the free market than they pay to dairy farmers. 

Skimmed milk concentrate is slowly picking up after a downward period this week and is rising by €30 to €2.270 per tonne. Concentrate is supported by the slightly more positive milk powder market. This also applies to whey concentrate, which is suddenly more popular now that whey powder prices are also rising again.