Global Dairy Trade event #316 took place Tuesday. The index settled 2% higher for the second auction in a row. The main price mover in today’s GDT index was in Anhydrous Milk Fat which settled nearly 4% higher than the last auction, bringing the average price up to $5,901/MT, or around $2.68/lb.
The Skim Milk Powder index settled slightly lower by .7% as the average price was $3,547/MT or around $1.61/lb. North Asia was the main buyer in SMP as well as they stepped in to buy product at a 5-cent premium to US NFDM product which is around $1.56/lb. The past 4 auctions have been relatively unchanged after shaving nearly 24% off our 2022 highs.
Whole Milk Powder was the next big mover as the index settled 3.7% higher at $3,733/MT or $1.69/lb. Southeast Asia was the main buyer of this market as it brought the price back up into the range we have been trading at since the beginning of 2021. Butter ended at $2.43/lb and cheese at $2.33/lb.
Barrel cheese rose 6.75 cents to $2.17/lb on the CME spot dairy auction Tuesday. Block cheese was unchanged at $2.0525/lb. Whey also held steady at $0.4550/lb. Butter fell ¼ of a penny to $3.15/lb. Nonfat milk settled at $1.56/lb, unchanged on the day.
Q4 class III milk futures were 30-40 cents higher after the spot cheese trade. Q1 2023 futures inched up slightly. Class IV milk futures were rangebound.
The grain markets were higher likely due to traders technical buying after analyzing charts. December corn increased 13.75 cents to $6.9275/bu. November soybeans gained 17.50 cents to $14.7875/bu. December soybean meal jumped $10.10 to $439.40/ton. December Chicago Wheat rallied 63.25 cents to $8.9375/bu.
The livestock sector was mixed. December live cattle added 17 cents to $151.07/cwt. October feeder cattle eased $2.27 to $180.02/cwt. December lean hogs tacked on 2 cents to $88.17/cwt. November crude oil fell $1.05 to $84.31/barrel.
