On the face of it, both skim and whey are unchanged, well, skim is down €10, so nothing, but there are rumblings of change. 

The German market is an unusual bellwether for market movement, but it is undercutting the headline Dutch market by about €20 on both products, and is some albeit scant evidence that producers recognise things are backing up in the warehouse. 

I’m told that there is much more of everything being offered by producers, permeate, whey and skim, but trader prices remain resolutely unchanged, presumably in the hope of shorting the market and buying in against sales when they switch horses and pull the plug. 

Looking at producer fundamentals, cheese prices are holding fair across Europe, so cheaper whey won’t unduly worry producers, but they’re never comfortable below the cost of production. Skim on the other hand is the byproduct of soaring butter prices, so it looks like there may be some slack in the byproduct.

 Background markets are gently firm, with crude oil steadily in the $80 bracket, with palm oil spiking due to an extraordinary mandate from the Indonesian government for 40% biofuel in diesel next year. That’s going to work, then, when the fatty acids eat the head gaskets…….

Oh, and I did look, there were apparently between six and eighteen yellow Reliant Regal Supervans used in the Only Fools and Horses franchise!

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