To the day’s other news now and milk solid prices on Fonterra’s globalDairyTrade auction have dropped for the third month in a row.

The average selling price for all products on the latest online auction fell 13.7% per cent, whole milk powder prices declined 14.8% to $US3224 per tonne and skim milk powder 11.8 to $US3067 per tonne.

Fonterra globalDairyTrade Manager Paul Grave says increased global supply has brought prices down from the highs of recent months.

“As we’ve been saying, the road ahead is likely to be rocky at times – clearly we’re going through a volatile patch right now.

"I think what we’re seeing is a rebalancing phase where the focus has previously been on the supply side – buyers were concerned where they would get volume from.

"Now there’s more focus on the demand side, so there’s plenty of supply expected from New Zealand and Europe in the short to medium term, so the key factor becomes demand.”

From September Fonterra will add buttermilk to its GDT platform and increase auctions to twice a month.