Tuesday, 11 December 2018 08:55

GDT rise unexciting – economists

Written by 
Don't get excited just yet. Don't get excited just yet.

Economists aren't too excited about last week’s 2.2% overall lift in the Global Dairy Trade price index.

Anne Boniface, Westpac senior economist, says there was a 2.5% lift in whole milk powder prices, while butter and AMF prices also rose, partially unwinding the big falls seen in the previous auction. But the lift did not fully unwind the weaker dairy prices through November.

“Local conditions for most dairy farmers remain very favourable, and strong momentum in New Zealand milk production likely continued in November.”

Westpac is picking a $6.10/kgMS milk price for the season. “As we’ve noted previously, this forecast continues to assume we see a modest improvement in dairy prices in early 2019, with the risk of a further downward revision if this fails to eventuate in the coming months.”

ASB’s senior rural economist Nathan Penny says the rise snapped a run of seven consecutive falls.

“Nonetheless, we are suspicious. First, the rise is similar to falls in the US currency over the past fortnight. In particular, the Chinese yuan has lifted, making the USD-priced products cheaper for Chinese buyers.”

More like this

Featured

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

110,000 visitors!

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter