The Global Dairy Trade price index increased a massive 4.8% points this week on the run up to Christmas with the latest auction attracting 173 participating bidders for 36,595m tonnes sold.

The average winning price was $3997 or €3668.

Such was the demand that seven of the eight product groups saw improvements in the average price index with butter rising a massive 8.3% to $6990 on the previous auction mid October while anhydrous milk fat was up 4.6% to $7558.

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Whole milk powder and skim milk powder both improved by 4.4% and 4.0% to $3713 and $2850 respectively.

Cheddar also improved significantly by 4.0% to $4973, while Mozzarella attracted a 0.9% rise to $4607 with butter milk powder up 2.1% at $3238.

The only product that saw an index reduction was lactose, which fell 6.1% points to $843.

The GDT events auction service brings together buyers and sellers of dairy ingredients from 60 countries to trade US$2-3bn annually