This was another eagerly awaited GDT event, with the market seeking direction after the recent volume changes. The event index posted a small 0.3% gain for the first gain in 9 events and only the 2nd rise in 11 events, but there was again plenty of positive news in this result.

SMP remained steady, adding US$32/t or 1.1% on average to US$3,052/t.  Fonterra MH C2 added US$20/t to US$3,000/t, with stronger prices later. European SMP added US$120/t to US$3,013/t (in simple average) and hence the NZ premium over EU product was flipped to a small discount of US$13/t.

WMP continued to slide on weaker early-round demand, with a smaller loss to the previous event, dropping US$46/t on average to US$3,552/t. Regular product C2 WMP again lost US$55/t to US$3,540/t, with consistent losses from C2 to C5, while C1 shed US$130/t.

Both fats improved once again. Butter gained US$182/t to average US$4,771/t, with consistent gains across C1 to C4 contracts. C2 added US$204/t to US$4,781/t. AMF added US$123/t on average to US$5,791/t, again weighed down by losses in C1, while C2 added US$110/t to US$5,787/t.

The usual odd result came from the small sales of cheddar, which posted a gain on average of US$119/t to US$4,184/t. There was only a US$10/t gain for C2 (to US$4,030), but the stronger gains later lifted C4 to C6 prices above US$4,250/t.