The tight availability of liquid dairy products is causing spot prices for raw milk and cream to rise, but not only there. The butter price is also climbing again, as is the foil cheese price. Not the entire market is participating yet, but there is a different wind blowing over the market.
Raw milk has become more expensive for the third consecutive week. In early October, the spot milk price dipped to around €55.00 per 100 kilos, now the spot milk price is well above €60.00 per 100 kilos, with peaks up to €63.00.
The foil cheese price is slightly rising again this week, while the price of whey concentrate has almost exploded in recent weeks. The reason is the strong demand for 'higher' WPCs and WPIs (high-quality whey derivatives). The expectation is that this is a shorttime phenomenon.
The cream price remains at a high level and shows no signs of weakening. This would be strange considering the upcoming Christmas period. Many food companies are currently busy producing products for that period and are still buying.
The demand for cream is so good that it is also slowing down the decline in butter prices and reversing it upwards. Whether and how long this movement will last remains to be seen, but the downward price pressure of recent weeks has stopped. Relatively cheap Irish butter is still being offered on the market, as Irish dairy farming has had a good autumn and dairy farmers can continue milking well, but the prices of this regularly frozen product are rising again.
A real turnaround in the market may only be expected when the low point in milk supply in the Netherlands and surrounding countries has passed and there are enough newly milked cows in production again. Interestingly, the butter price in Germany, during the time when the price here was falling, has hardly been under pressure. According to many sources, the lowest product prices mainly come from the trade. Producers often feel less inclined to lower prices.