Global dairy prices fall 3.3 percent overall in latest auction

The average dairy price had its biggest fall since early April overnight, with overall prices down 3.3 percent and all other commodities on offer falling in price.

The average price fell 3.3 percent to $US3334 a tonne at the global dairy trade (GDT) auction.

It followed an unchanged price in the previous auction a couple of weeks ago.

Other products saw bigger falls: butter prices fell 10.3 percent, cheese fell 3.1 percent and skim milk powder fell 6 percent.

The important whole-milk powder price, which impacts payouts for local farmers, dropped 0.4 percent to $US3149 a tonne.

An analysis written by NZX dairy analyst Alex Winning and dairy economist Amy Castleton said the results were indicative of the broader market sentiment and signals around milk supply.

South East Asia continued to be the strongest buyer by volume, while whole milk powder prices were down the most for product to ship in September and October, reflecting expectations of greater supply through New Zealand's peak milk production months, they said.

"While there were some big moves on the headline indices at this week's GDT event, the movement shouldn't be a huge surprise to the market," the analysis said.

"Little has changed in the way of fundamentals.

"There has been a bit of chatter around milk supply and product availability, in the sense that no shortage of product is seen, especially out of the Northern Hemisphere."

As the 2022-23 season finished strongly on milk supply, and there was no indication of weakness into next season, buyers were assuming more product would be available when they needed it and therefore were not willing to push prices higher, the analysis said.