Lactose, mozzarella and butter delivered an upbeat performance at the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction today (Tuesday, March 4).

But the overall GDT price index fell marginally by 0.5%.

There were a total of 176 bidders in the event which saw 20,977 metric ton (MT) of product sold.

The average selling price was €4,022 per metric ton in the auction, which lasted for more than two hours, during which there were 126 winning bidders.

The GDT Price Index now stands at 1,251 today – compared to the previous index figure on February 18 which was 1,257.

GDT is owned and managed as a strategic partnership between the European Energy Exchange (EEX), Fonterra Cooperative Group, and New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX).

The auction tends to be viewed as a good barometer of dairy prices and an indicator of supply and demand in the market.

Lactose recorded the highest price increase today - rising 14% to €1,107/MT, while prices also rose for butter - up 2.7% to €7,241/MT and for mozzarella by 7.9% to €4,278/MT.

The price of cheddar also rose by 1.1% to €4,697/MT while the price of skim milk powder (SMP) also showed a slight 0.6% increase to €2,622/MT.

But it was a disappointing result today for whole milk powder (WMP) which fell back by 2.2% to €3,881/MT.

Butter milk powder also showed a drop of 1.8% to €2,879/MT while anhydrous milk fat dropped 0.3% to €6,384/MT.

GDT Events connects sellers from around the globe with bidders from over 70 countries.

The latest seller to join the event was the German co-op Bayerische Milchindustrie eG (BMI) last month.

GDT confirmed that BMI will offer lactose to buyers worldwide.

Founded in 1952, BMI has grown from a local cooperative into a key player in the global dairy industry.