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Welcome to the BDC agri blog. Here you will find reports from some of the events we attend, as well as Greg's popular weekly view of the UK milk and whey powders market:

 

"Many years ago, I got my first job in the dairy industry, as class milk monitor at Tollesbury Primary School.
I thought it was a job for life, but sadly Margaret Thatcher famously ‘snatched’ free school milk,
and the nation’s health has suffered since. Fifty-four years later, I am still musing on the dairy industry,
with an irreverent view of politics and currency ..." G
reg Dunn

Updated: Dec 5, 2024



Getting milk powders out of the way, skim rose €20 this week and sweet whey only €10. However, the opposite dynamic is in play, as one has to stump up €20-30 over the market to secure spot contracts for whey, whilst skim is easily discounted by roughly the same amount.

 

In the absence of anything much to write about in skim and whey, whilst looking round the markets this week, I noticed a perfect symmetry in the price graph for US soybean oil, in July and November (for readers of fewer advanced years, Twin Peaks was a bonkers US gothic horror mystery from the early 90s, and I suspect not worthy of revisiting). The graph reveals hitting peaks of nearly 50 cents early in the month, and barely over 40 cents by the end, the first being a weather market, the second a geopolitical one. I mention this as bean oil and palm oil have diverged dramatically, the latter rising a good 5% in the last ten days on excessive rainfall in Indonesia.


BDC agri is the UK broker for Lacto Production milk and whey powder products.


For further information and prices, contact Greg Dunn on 01206 381521 or g.dunn@blackdiamondcommodities.com

Well that was a surprise - sweet whey up €20, skim milk €30. But why? I include the above picture as this is the Lacto Production stand at Eurotier in Hannover, and no fewer than six traders called by relaying the same news; someone somewhere has paid €960 for Q1 whey. This always happens at these bourses, funny how trader gossip never brings the market down!

 

Out in the real world, offers of whey have reduced, but skim is still readily offered at unchanged levels, so there is still no real feeling for a runaway market. 





Interesting to see sweet whey finish the year, bang on the same price three years running.

 

It was also interesting to see how the mood changed in agri markets to Trump retaking the throne. Soy oil shot up on the prospect of extra tariffs, but then fell back when folk realised that climate-change denying was going to plunge demand for biofuel as mandates are likely to be dumped. Likewise palm oil, which had got to ridiculous price levels, and have only just come off the top by a piddling amount.


BDC agri is the UK broker for Lacto Production milk and whey powder products.


For further information and prices, contact Greg Dunn on 01206 381521 or g.dunn@blackdiamondcommodities.com



Apparently there has been other stuff going on this week that has got just about every other market, currency and index excited, except for milk powders.

 

Both whey and skim are unchanged on the Dutch market, but the discount for Germany increased to €115 for skim.

 

Every other market has got very excited about what may or may not happen after January 6th 2025, that will be forgotten about by the time we get there, so I’ll save the column inches and carry on preparing for the biennial animal feed bunfight Eurotier, taking place next week in Hannover.


BDC agri is the UK broker for Lacto Production milk and whey powder products.


For further information and prices, contact Greg Dunn on 01206 381521 or g.dunn@blackdiamondcommodities.com

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