It seems our friends the cheese processors were telling porkies about how much sweet whey they didn’t have, as they ran the market up in the spring. They’re now chucking any amount at the market, way (sorry) in excess of current cheese production, which is still in semi-lockdown mode and summer is never peak production anyway. The Dutch market posts another €30 drop this week, and other markets are following suit. However, skim milk powder posted a third week at unchanged levels, and that market is much more in balance in terms of limited supply and muted demand.

On the face of it, the market should continue in free fall, as buyers are scarce and especially traders are desperate to physically move long (and probably wrong) books, and as sorry as we feel for them, we must recognise that the soya complex is still riding high, especially for soya oil, pegging palm and coconut up with it.

I was hearing yesterday that the record temperatures in Canada have not only ravaged the canola crop, but also linseed, so the hoped-for new-crop pressure looks scuppered for the northern hemisphere for oilseeds, at least. With this firm protein market backdrop, whey looks unlikely to continue its lonely downward trajectory too much longer.

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