Plenty of movement on calm-looking dairy market

Prices for raw milk also remain under some pressure, especially in the Netherlands.

However, that is not all. In France, several dairy companies are now buyers of milk instead of sellers. The supply peak in France is over and the usual surpluses in supply have disappeared. Dairy companies elsewhere are also buying additional product. One large factory of a cooperative in Germany did not participate. It was reportedly hacked and had to sell a lot of milk on the spot market.

As a result, the price of skimmed milk concentrate temporarily dropped sharply on the German market. If that had not been the case, the DCA quotation for this product would probably have been higher this week. Now, the price is generally stable. Extra cheap supply is also still available from Ireland and Great Britain, but this requires a longer transport time and a slightly lower microbiological quality.

The DCA cream price is slightly higher than last week, which means that this price is slightly further removed from the butter price. The latter is also stable now. Butter once again proves that it is a 'stubborn' product, which cannot simply be lowered in price. The movement in the cream price is still too small to restore price parity with butter.

According to many traders, the milk powder market is not very mobile and almost boring. However, something seems to be shifting slowly. Just like last week, the prices for skimmed milk powder food and feed are also rising slightly this week. Not that there is a lot of trade taking place, but a slight upward trend is visible in the pricing. European/Dutch product has also become somewhat more competitive on export markets in the meantime, but there is still no talk of large physical exports.

As is sometimes the case in a 'low' market, it is the animal feed market where most happens. Skimmed milk powder for food is priced so low that the animal feed sector buys the product as a relatively cheap source of protein. Other alternatives cost more money.

The whey powder market is surprisingly under pressure again. There are no shortages here, and apparently no sharply declining stocks either. The latter seems strange, now that large dairy companies are using as much whey as possible for the production of high-quality whey ingredients. The demand for this remains good, which is also visible in the resurgent price of whey concentrate.

The cheese market shows much the same as the milk powder market. There are few major price changes, but cheese prices are still developing in different directions.

Unlike last week, it is now the foil cheese price that is recovering a little, together with mozzarella, while the cheddar market is now under pressure. Polish and Lithuanian producers are still trying to keep prices at the same level, but British and Irish suppliers are putting sharply priced product on the market, especially in curd. And then there is some cheap New Zealand supply. The price of mild cheddar is holding up a little better.