Borrowing from the centuries-old Chinese-whisper corruption of the front line message to military command, “Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance”, word hasn’t quite got round yet that the trader community is preparing for a spring offensive.

Having bumped down €20 a week for the last five weeks, sweet whey appears to still be on the slide, but I’m told traders are busily tucking away whey to store and cheaper offers are drying up fast, and this week’s €20 fall isn’t reflected in current offers. If we are still in Groundhog Year, we saw prices plateau at this level last spring, but it took until the end of the summer holidays before the great march north started, but the market is now so far below cost of production, traders are buying in to it now.

Likewise, skim milk shed €20, but again, the amount of offers, especially offgrades, has reduced, but possibly not with the polarity of the whey market, so we may see stabilisation in skim for a while.

Processed fats continue to rise and supply tighten, plus gluten, so that isn’t giving any help to blends. Soya generally is finally answering the gravity of oversupply, but soya and palm oils are holding on to plus $80 crude oil, so only drifting marginally.

One thing I do keep a weather eye on is gold, not that I have any. Interestingly, given its safe haven status, it actually went down in the months following the Ukraine war, but has now climbed to near record highs, up nigh on 13% YoY, of which over 8% has been during the last month, and 1.5% over the last week. 

Best of luck in your Easter Egg Hunt

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