To be honest, the market is all over the place, varying widely between countries and even regions. Sweet whey is quoted unchanged in Holland, but slightly easier in outlying markets. Feed grade skim milk powder has however recorded a modest €10 decrease under last week’s value, but remains essentially unchanged for the last month.

The root of the demise in whey seems to be the Chinese market, which was saturated with imports in H1, with desperate traders now offloading whatever they can at levels below €920 DAP China, €10 below the Dutch delivered price, and never mind the €100 shipping it cost to get it there.

The prediction made at the end of June that we’d probably see the whey market slide until mid July looks like it may have been robust, as it has been abandoned by buyers. The soy complex has stabilised over the last week and doesn’t look about to break, and winter dairy campaigns are gearing up, so there’s few significant factors that could push the milk powder markets lower as things currently stand.

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