Actually, I was going to entitle this week's Milk Monitor ‘Crowded Market’, but couldn’t resist this image. The theme is that there seems to be too many smaller traders jobbing smaller lots of milk powder round the market than the bigger players would like, preventing them from hiking the market to levels above the cost of production. In short, there’s still too much whey powder sloshing around, despite the uptick in global demand, delaying the inevitable rise when the supply glut is absorbed.

Sweet whey remains unchanged at €640 on the Dutch market, only €10 above the record recent low. Skim milk powder quietly rose getting on for 1%, up €20 to €2260. However, fats generally are decreasing in the face of lower demand, even though that market is devoid of middle market traders. The exception is whey permeate, as reported last week, as with some towers throwing in the towel, prices have hiked this week.

The only thing that background markets are telling us is that while proteins continue to plunge in the face of mega soya crops predicted for both American continents (who knew??), veg oils are hanging on the coattails of crude oil, which posted 2% increase over the week.

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