In the last GDT auction of 2023, the overall GDT price is up 1.6%, which Dairy Analyst Stu Davison told REX host Dom George comes as no massive surprise.
"Positive in terms of looking at the milk price market and positive from the global market as a whole but nothing too crazy to get too momentous about," he said.
Cheddar saw the biggest change in price, up 9.7% followed by Lactose, up 5.3%, Butter Milk Powder (BMP), up 2.8%, Whole Milk Powder (WMP), up 2,1%, Skim Milk Powder (SMP), up 1.2% and finally Butter with an increase of 0.7% from the previous auction.
Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF) saw no increase, holding the same price since GDT auction 344.
Despite the general consensus that the market results line up pretty close to most data predictions and patterns, Davison did note one key difference in GDT auction 345
"The real key there though was that it wasn't China buying the bulk of this stuff it was actually South East Asia and Oceania.
"So a little bit of a counter-seasonal decline from China but not unusual at the same time."
In summation, Davison sees the market going forward reasonably balanced in the short term and the latest GDT auction aligns exactly with this.
"Good in terms of where we see things going but don't get too excited about the milk price shooting through the roof, nothing has really changed on that front."
New Zealand dairy-free milk company, Boring Oat Milk has teamed up with a creative agency to launch what people are calling a 'provocative' new campaign 'Quit The Tit' aimed at weaning Kiwis off cow milk.
While Davison commended their product development and unique marketing strategy, he raised the point that despite labelling it as 'milk', the dairy-free alternative lacks a number of nutritional values that traditional dairy milk provides.
"You lose a lot of those nutrients that come through milk, the protein factors that are in milk, the good fats that are in milk, we are not replacing like for like and that's what really bugs me.
"Good on them for trying and they might steal a bit of market share but let's be honest Kiwis are true blue, anchor blue type drinkers."
George noted that while a number of other dairy-free milk alternative companies offer their product as another option without actually offering an opinion on dairy milk, but the 'Quit The Tit' campaign is taking a strong stance against the traditional option.
Although he admitted some companies have seen short-term success internationally with this tactic, Davison told George the data would suggest it's unlikely they will take too much of the market share away from classic cow's milk.
Listen to the full chat between Stu Davison and Dominic George above.
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