IFA Dairy Committee chairman Stephen Arthur said co-ops cannot ignore the trends in the latest GDT auction, which has recorded a dramatic jump in commodity prices.
The auction, which concluded earlier today (Tuesday, March 2), resulted in an overall index increase of 15%.
Reacting to this, Arthur said:
This rise in commodity prices is equivalent to a farmgate price of over 40c/L for farmers. Movements south of the equator point to a very positive outlook in milk price for 2021.
Pointing to the euro values of today’s results, the chairman noted that the major highlight from today’s auction was the 21% jump in whole milk powders to €3,625.
Butter is up by 13.7% to €4,839, while prices for cheese showed modest growth of 1.3% to €3,555, he said, adding:
There has been a surge in dairy imports by China, matched with weaker than expected milk supplies from New Zealand and Australia leading to tighter supplies in the Southern hemisphere.
Co-ops cannot ignore this, Arthur concluded.
