News Oceania n°5/2015

Period: February 23 – March 6, 2015

AUSTRALIA

• Milk production: is holding fairly steady compared to recent weeks. January 2015 milk production in Australia was 0.6% above January 2014.
• Weather situation: a strong cyclone made landfall in Queensland and triggered thunderstorms over most of the major dairy producing region.

NEW ZEALAND

• Milk production: continues to decline. The rate of decline has accelerated significantly and will lead to a shorter season, compared to last year.
• Weather situation: the Canterbury region on the South Island continues to be very dry.
• Milk producers: have increased their cull rates and are moving to once a day milking schedules.  Indeed, the lower milk price and the higher cost of feed has led producers to reduce milk production.

MILK PRODUCTION

• New Zealand *: +3,52% (Jun 14-Jan 15 vs. Jun 13-Jan 14)
• Australia *: +2,37% (Jul 14-Jan 15 vs. Jul 13-Jan 14)

BUTTER (82%): prices moved higher; demand is good; export demand is primarily coming from the Middle East and Southeast Asia; some buyers are securing supplies ahead of possible future price increases; supplies are more readily available in New Zealand than Australia, as Australian stocks are mostly committed to cover domestic needs; butteroil prices moved higher with buyer concerns about reduced future supplies and increased buying activity from Southeast Asia.

CHEDDAR CHEESE: price at the upper end of the range decreased; export demand remains fairly good with active interest coming from Southeast Asia and China; Australia’s available supplies for export have increased as domestic sales have slowed after the recent price increases.

SMP: prices moved higher; demand is mixed; supplies are readily available in both Australia and New Zealand; global SMP supplies are expected to increase in the coming weeks as milk production increases in the northern hemisphere.

WMP: prices increased substantially; the price increases over the past number of weeks have improved returns for WMP, and some additional milk flows have been diverted to expand production; demand is beginning to show some signs of slowing as some buyers with adequate supplies are willing to hold off purchases; some are of the opinion that the market might be at or near its high point.

New Zealand: manufacturers have adopted flexible production schedules for the various dairy commodities in order to capture the best returns.

Note: · Assessments about market trend are expressed in US$; · * Dairy season: July, 1st – June, 30th (Australia), June, 1st – May, 31st (New Zealand).

Source: USDA summarized by the CLAL Team

More informations about milk production in New Zealand and Australia are available on CLAL.it

CLAL.it – WMP: prices in Germany and Oceania