The Global Dairy Trade index rose by 1.2%

During the overnight Global Dairy Trade auction, the price index added 1.2%, offsetting the 1.1% drop that occurred at the previous trading session. Whole milk powder, which has the greatest impact on Fonterra's farmgate milk price, rose in price by 1.2% and now averages 3,605 USD per metric ton. Skim milk powder, Fonterra's second most important core product, showed an increase of 4.3% to an average level of 3,847 USD per metric ton.

At the same time, some positions demonstrated a decrease. Thus, cheddar dropped in price by 3.7% (averaging 3,925 USD per metric ton), while butter decreased in price by 0.3% to 4,740 USD per metric ton. Anhydrous milk fat fell by 1.1% with an average of 5,683 USD per metric ton, and the cost of mozzarella decreased by 3.9% to 3,833 USD per metric ton.

During 18 trading rounds, a volume of 41,692 metric tons of products was sold. The buyers were 124 winning bidders out of 165 participants (at the previous event, these figures were 42,444 metric tons, 126 winners, and 155 participants).

In addition, the article provides data on Fonterra's forecasts. On July 13, the farmgate milk price forecast for the 2026/27 season was revised to 9.25 New Zealand dollars per kgMS in the range from 8.00 to 10.50 (down from the May forecast of 9.75 and the range of 8.00–11.00). Later, on September 21, the cooperative raised the midpoint of the forecast to 9.50 dollars per kgMS, narrowing the range to 8.50–10.50. For the 2025/26 season, which ended on May 31, the range was adjusted to 9.60–9.80 dollars per kgMS with an unchanged midpoint of 9.70. For comparison, in the 2024/25 season, a record amount of 10.16 dollars per kgMS was paid out.