New Zealand’s third warmest summer ever is a growing factor in rising dairy markets which may help to ease Irish milk producers’ Brexit worries.

As the next sale of EU skim milk powder (SMP) out of public intervention kicks off today, dairy farmers will hope a week of good dairy industry news continues to relieve their worries over Brexit, international trade and tariff disputes, and global economic trends.

Weakness in global dairy markets was reflected in Tuesday’s steep 3.9% auction fall in the GDT Price Index — in spite of the deepening drought conditions threatening supplies from New Zealand, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, writes Stephen Cadogan. 

Butter prices took the biggest hit in the Global Dairy Trade auction on Tuesday, with a 4.9% drop dragging the overall average price index down 1.6%.

EU dairy exporters must continue to do without the €8 billion per year Russian food market, after European foreign ministers moved this week towards prolonging economic sanctions to punish Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Dairy farmers have condemned co-ops for cutting June milk prices, despite stable pricing at Ornua, the major buyer of Irish dairy produce.

Dairy farmers have been boosted by a Global Dairy Trade auction average price rise yesterday of 3.4% for dairy commodities.

Dairygold yesterday followed the example of other milk processors and reduced the price it will pay suppliers for June milk.

The Irish Dairy Board is an organisation always worth listening to when discussing prospects for milk prices.

Dairy co-ops will undermine farmers’ profitability and confidence if they over-react to global market cuts in the milk price, warns IFA national dairy chairman Kevin Kiersey.

IMPROVED international dairy product prices will probably hold to the end of the year, but the market is less certain beyond that period, according to the Dutch dairy industry, international, monthly milk-price review.