The GDT index lifted 2.2% at week’s event #269, with strong recoveries in butter prices the stand-out feature. Butter gained US$279/t or 8.5% to average US$3,561/t, with solid gains of around 10% for all but C2 which was meeker and added 5.4% or US$181/t to US$3,506/t.  AMF added 5.7% or US$221/t to average US$4,131/t, with solid gains across the board, leaving a firming forward profile that lifts above US$4,100/t. C2 gained 5.8% or US$227/t to US$4,125/t. One major reason for this was the much smaller availability. Butter sales were 1,100t down on the prior event, while AMF offer volumes were 900t lower than the volume offered at the previous event, but more was actually sold this time.

SMP slid 0.8% or US$24/t to average US$2,865/t. The largest price change was for C1 which surged US$211/t to US$3,226/t on someone covering some urgent needs. Price changes were otherwise mostly small. C2 lost 1.1% or US$31/t. But is was no so good for NZ product. Fonterra’s MH product lost US$50/t to US$2,845/t, Arla prices added US$100/t on average, while US SMP was unchanged.

WMP added 1.9% to average US$3,041/t, with gains of US$70-80/t across all contracts – other than C2 which added on average just US$22/t. The gains were similar for regular product, where C2 added US$20/t or 0.7% to US$3,000/t.

Cheddar nudged higher, adding 0.5% or US$20/t on average. But it was a mixed outcome, with a strong gain of US$229/t for C1, C2 rising 3.3% to US$3,764/t but small losses on the small later delivery volumes.