Smaller processors, including Bulla, publicly announced a third round of step-ups, pushing their offers into a range of $9.15 to $9.95 per kilogram milk solids. Similarly, Union Dairy Company increased its range to $9.30-$9.70, while Goulburn Valley Creamery also boosted its offering to $9.70 per kilogram milk solids. These revisions came as processors faced mounting pressure, indicating a reactive market driven by the need to secure supply, crucial for stable dairy economics.

However, eastAUSmilk chief executive Eric Danzi revealed that some dairy farmers were being offered well above $10 per kilogram milk solids. Danzi welcomed this development, asserting that the earlier “low-balling” strategy employed by some processors had clearly failed. He emphatically advised farmers still within their 14-day cooling-off period to renegotiate their contracts, insisting that signing anything below $10 per kilogram would be a grave mistake in the current market.

Danzi’s insights suggest a degree of panic among processors, with reports indicating some had secured commitments from as little as 30% of their suppliers just days before the July 1 cutoff. This low sign-up rate directly triggered the late price step-ups seen across the market. While some processors were still offering prices in the high $8s and low $9s, Danzi criticized this as either a strategy to lose suppliers or a lack of market acumen, emphasizing the dairy industry’s competitive landscape.