12 February 2020: What goes up, must come down … slowly

What goes up must come down, we are told, but not how long it stays up. Well, it seems the graph has finally turned south. Feed grade skim milk powder and whey powder are both down €20 on the Dutch market over the last week, with facile comments somehow linking the drop to the virus pandemic, rather than unbridled profit-taking. I say unbridled as there is a wide range of prices between the strongest and weakest sellers, as there always is when a bull run stalls. It is worth noting, though, that skim and, more surprisingly, whey were €50 lower than today’s levels a month ago.

No tangible reasons have been given for the fall, leaving one with the maxim that there are currently more sellers than buyers. The feeling is palpable that the more aggressive traders are short-selling the forward market where they can find interest.

HS2 has put some sparkle back into Sterling, which is currently nudging up to €1.19 and $1.30. Surprising, really, given £105bn of magic money tree being thrown to northern working class Tory converts.

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

6 February 2020: Twin Peaks?

After the last fortnight’s excitement, it appears to have been traders hiking the market, as producers have been quite happy to accept the extra margin and discounting now seems to have started. Traders are profit-taking too, so the price indicators suggest whey has peaked for this cycle and it’s a reasonable hypothesis that prices will decline gently until the next sting.

Skim remains unchanged, as physical offers are plentiful and discounting is probable. Could this be start of the long-awaited slide? As the world waits for the end of the extended Lunar New Year in China, the serious game of guessing how the worldwide supply and demand seesaw will tilt goes on.

Sterling remains range-bound as the froth and bubbles of the UK and EU starting positions are trumpeted, but at least Cummings’ monkey has a safe majority to push through an agreement well ahead of 31st December, but bitter and costly experience suggests a crash-out remains a serious threat.

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

BDC agri at Dairy-Tech 2020

We enjoyed a busy time on our stand at Dairy-Tech 2020, with our colleagues from Lacto Production, Physan and Clarys.

It was good to catch up with some of our customers for Lacto Production whey and skim milk powders, calf milk replacer and specialised bespoke products.

We were also excited to present two innovative new products - new to our portfolio for 2020:

CLOST-RID, developed in Belgium by Clarys, is a preventive treatment for clostridium in calves. Available in liquid form, it's designed to be included in calf milk replacer during mixing. We're offering a FREE TRIAL of this cost-effective feed ingredient. Visit our CLOST-RID page for further information.

KETONITE, from the French company Physan, is a feed supplement designed for dairy cows in early lactation for the prevention of metabolic disorders such as ketosis and hypocalcaemia.

There was plenty of interest in both products and it was great to meet so many visitors to this vibrant annual dairy show.

(R to L) Greg Dunn of BDC agri, Sylvain Fournier of Lacto Production and Alan Barrow of The Calf Company