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Dairy product prices fell to the lowest level since December 2012 in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, paced by whole milk powder and anhydrous milk fat.
The GDT price index dropped 8.9 percent to US$3,309 a tonne, from US$3,595 a tonne two weeks ago. Some 36,656 tonnes of product was sold, down from 41,513 tonnes two weeks ago.
‘New Zealand’s regional economies are milking the dairy industry, taking NZ$14.3 billion in total in 2013-14 – a 40 percent increase in earnings – DairyNZ figures showed earlier this week. In total, it’s estimated the New Zealand economy earned NZ$17.6 billion from dairy exports that year.
In the latest GDT auction, whole milk powder shed 10.9 percent to US$3,088 a tonne. Anhydrous milk fat dropped 10.0 percent to US$3,250, while rennet casein fell 8.9 percent to US$9,761 a tonne. Skim milk powder slumped 7.1 percent to US$3,516 a tonne and butter milk powder declined 4.6 percent to US$4,426 a tonne. Cheddar slipped 1.6 percent to US$4,164 a tonne. Butter fell 1.1 percent to US$3,144 a tonne. Neither lactose nor milk protein concentrate were offered at the event.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at 88.16 US cents before the release. It dropped as low as 87.50 cents and was recently trading at 87.65 cents.
There were 144 winning bidders out of 177 participating bidders at the 13-round auction. The number of qualified bidders fell to 663 from 702 at the last auction.