A DairyBusiness article
The dairy markets moved mostly higher this week as the protein powders continued to strengthen and cheese and butter bounced off the bottom. CME spot nonfat dry milk (NDM) rallied 4.75ȼ to $2.2675 per pound, within a few cents of the all-time high set this spring. Powder prices are climbing around the globe. Skim milk powder (SMP) had another strong showing at Tuesday’s Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction. Prices rallied 4.3% to a four-year high of $1.85. Nonetheless, the gap between U.S. and international milk powder values has widened to a chasm and even buyers in Mexico are starting to look elsewhere. After glancing at prices across the border, Mexican buyers stepped up the volume of their bids at the GDT this week. That’s evidence of a downshift in U.S. trade prospects, which were already in decline. In August, the U.S. sent just 101 million pounds of NDM and SMP abroad, the smallest monthly volume in over seven years. But production is also scant. In August, NDM/SMP production slumped to 161.2 million pounds, the lowest tally for the month since 2012.
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