The global dairy market continues to push up the price of dairy products, which is good news for dairy producers who are also expecting better farm gate prices for raw milk. In the last trading session, the index of the dairy trading floor "Global Dairy Trade" (GDT) has risen again and is in positive territory for the second session in a row.

This time, the GDT index rose 1.9 percent – to 1,239 points. This is the highest value of the index in the last 2 years and 5 months. 5 July 2022. The GDT Index stood at 1,287 points on 5 May 2022.

In the last trading session, the most expensive items were whole milk flour (+3.2 poc.), buttermilk (+1.0%), skimmed milk flour (+0.9%) and butter (+0.5%).

Mozzarella cheese (-6.6%) and Cheddar cheese (-3.1%) were the most expensive.

It is difficult to say at this point in time which direction the GDT index will take, but the likelihood of at least a short-term price correction is increasing.

It will all depend on consumption in global markets, where the festive period is approaching. Be that as it may, for the time being, there remains a good chance that dairy processors will have to slightly increase their farm gate prices for raw milk in the near future.

The „Global Dairy Trade“ trading site is owned by the agricultural cooperative „Fonterra“. Trends in the Oceania area will reach Europe in about 1.5-2 months.

How we look in terms of farmgate prices in Europe

According to the average farm gate price for raw milk reported by the European Commission for the EU-27, in Lithuania in October the price paid was €0.486/kg, compared to the EU average of €0.582/kg. Our country ranked 17th in this indicator.

This is indeed a significant change compared to the long-standing penultimate or one of the last places Lithuania used to occupy 2-3 years ago.

Farmers in Cyprus (€0.637), Malta (€0.622) and Ireland (€0.579) are currently receiving the highest farm gate milk prices. The lowest are those in Slovakia (€0.406) and Latvia (€0.405).