Dairy commodity prices lifted 1.5% on Fonterra's overnight online auction this week, clawing back from a price drop in the previous sale two weeks ago.
The average winning price on GlobalDairyTrade was $US3701 ($NZ4617). Rennet casein lifted 3.7% to an average winning price of $US8069 a metric tonne, anhydrous milk fat increased 2.8% to $US4084 and skim milk powder was up 2.7% to $US3351. Buttermilk powder had the biggest loss, down 4.3% on the previous auction at $US3430.
The dairy exporter sold 31,026 metric tonnes of product at the auction, for a total price of $US114.8 million.
That was the smallest volume sold at an auction since July 19.
There were 111 winning bidders over 12 rounds, out of 161 participating bidders, and the number of qualified bidders increased by 20 to 533 on the previous sale.
Arla Foods, a global dairy company and a co-operative owned by Danish, Swedish and German dairy farmers, and Australian farmer-owned dairy company Murray Goulburn Co-op, will begin trading on April 3.
