International prices rise by 9,4%

Dairy product prices increased by 9,4% at the Fonterra gobal dairy trade sale on 3 February. This increase followed on moderate increases at the previous three sales since the beginning of January. The sharpest increase occurred in the price of full-cream milk powder (up 19,2%), followed by skimmed milk powder (+6,7%) and butter (6,1%). Cheese prices, however, decreased by 11,1%. Concerns about the faster than normal rate of decline in New Zealand production as drier conditions develop and cooperatives revised their production forecasts downwards as well as the expected effect of the expected lower producer prices are main reasons for the increase in prices. Fonterra recently announced a decrease in the quantity of dairy products on offer on the global trade platform