Summary of the week 38

Powders

SMP goes steadily upwards. Many SMP end-users have little quantities of material for production and have to buy goods with cito deliveries. The price ranges from 2.18 to 2.24 EUR/kg. Beware, because Q4 is not covered everywhere yet, so further increases in price are inevitable.

The stable and high price of milk causes more interest in FCMP. A large number of butter producers produce cubes from frozen blocks, which means that there is less BMP on the market.

Cheese

There is still considerable interest in Cagliata – even though there is a large disproportion between customer expectations (2.85 EUR/kg) and producers’ bids (2.95 EUR/kg). The season is almost ending, so we don’t predict further rise in the interest anymore.

There is a stable demand for Gouda/Edam cheeses last week. The prices of hard type cheese are steadly on a quite high level. New products can only be found above 3 EUR/kg. There are some cases when buyers find offers below – these are the old stocks released by traders. All Western European producers offer higher. The risk of further COVID-19 related restrictions favors spot transactions – no-one wants to be left with cheese in the warehouse.

Butter

Prices for German discounters remained at the similar level. The gap between fresh (around 3.60 EUR/kg) and frozen (3.40 EUR) butter is still widening. Many buyers expect prices to be below 3.30 EUR/kg for Q1 2021. This may be due to fear that sales of PSA butter will start, but we have to keep in mind that the quantities of raw material will only be diminishing.

Liquids

At the beginning of the week, cream prices fluctuated around 4.40 – 4.50 EUR/kg. Meanwhile, on Thursday and Friday, the prices rose to around 4.60 – 4.65 EUR/kg. It is not only the crude oil that was running short but also the smaller availability and German retailer tender that influenced this trend.

Milk prices were stable with a slight upward trend. SMC is rather high and there is no use in producing powders from it. Also, whey is holding strong – both acid and sweet. We do not think that there would be any swing any time soon in the liquids department.