Dairy prices dropped sharply by 7.3 percent and benchmark whole milk powder prices plunged 10 percent in the latest international auction.
Photo: Unknown
Milk powder prices have now more than halved since the start of the year.
The volume traded in the Global Dairy Trade auction overnight increased to 55,057 tonnes, as the New Zealand dairy season picks up.
READ Di White’s feature, Changing life on the farm, about challenges in the farming sector.
Specialist agribusiness bank Rabobank predicts it could be well into next year before international prices show any real signs of recovery.
That is not something dairy companies and farmers want to hear as they consider whether already heavily pruned farmgate milk price forecasts for the current 2014-15 season will have to come down further in response to the global commodity price slump.