Butter and milk powder perform strongly

Dairy commodity prices increased by 2.3% at Fonterra’s latest auction, with butter and whole milk powder both performing strongly.

The overall weighted average settled at US $4941/t, 11% higher than the dip reached in early June, and 62% firmer than the same time last year. That was despite a 29% increase in volume traded, to 56,174t. Butter prices increased by 3.3%, with whole milk powder up by 2.7%.

New Zealand milk production fell 6.9% in June, compared to the previous year, to 118m litres, said a report by DairyCo. Cumulative production from June to May was 1% down, due to drought in early 2013. In Australia, heatwaves and floods knocked June production by 6.8%, with cumulative production down by 2%, at 9.2bn litres.

Across the ocean in America, milk production increased by 1.1% in July, compared to last year, to 7.4bn litres. Cumulative production was 0.9% higher, at 30.3bn litres.

Irish milk production in June topped year-ago levels for the first time in 14 months. At 20.9m litres, supplies were 3.1% up on the year, as grazing conditions improved.

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