Good news for farmers, with a positive Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction to start the new season.

Prices were up in the latest event, held overnight, with a 1.7 per cent increase across the board.

This builds on the 3.3 per cent increase from the final auction of the previous season two weeks ago.

Whole milk powder - which has the biggest impact on Fonterra’s farmgate milk price - rose 1.7 per cent, to an average of US$3478/MT.

Skim milk powder - Fonterra’s second-biggest reference product – was up a healthy 3.0 per cent, to an average of US$2722/MT.

Cheddar recorded a modest 0.2 per cent lift to an average of US$4248/MT and butter gained 1.7 per cent to an average of US$6864/MT.

Anhydrous milk fat was up 0.9 per cent to an average of US$7417/MT. This is the nineteenth consecutive increase for the product.

However, butter milk powder, which was not available at the previous event, came back with a bang, leaping a massive 10.4 per cent to an average of US$2845/MT.

Lactose had the only negative result, with a 1.9 per cent dip to an average of US$792/MT.

Mozarella was not available at this event, after stealing the show at the previous auction with a 9.8 per cent increase, the biggest jump since it was introduced to the GDT on December 5.

17,637 MT of product was purchased by 102 successful bidders, compared to 18,561 MT and 116 winning bidders last time.

On May 29, Fonterra announced an opening farmgate milk price for the new 2024-2025 season with a range of $7.25 per kgMS - $8.75 per kgMS and a midpoint of $8.

Fonterra also narrowed its 2023-2024 season forecast to between $7.70 to $7.90 per kgMS, leaving the midpoint unchanged at $7.80.