It was steady as it goes this week on international dairy markets, with small upward and downward movement, depending on product categories.

Butter prices took a hit on the European spot market, dropping in price by €155/t and reversing some of the gains in recent weeks.

Butter dropped by 1.4% at the last Global Dairy Trade (GDT), so this softening in the butter market was flagged.

Whole milk powder (WMP) on the European spot market dropped by €15/t this week to €3,620/t which is still almost €600/t higher than the GDT.

There was marginally better news for skim milk powder (SMP), with that increasing by €10/t to reach €2,350/t.

Cheddar prices also increased this week by €40/t to €3,070/t, even though cheddar took the biggest hit at the GDT, falling by 8.5% last week.

Stepping back from it, prices for all commodity categories are best described as stable with no significant patterns, good or bad, emerging.

Demand remains muted and while overall supply is low, there has been some increases in supply registered particularly in Germany where weekly supplies in April are running 5% higher than last year.

In the US, milk supplies for March are back 0.9% which is significant and reverses the gain observed in February.

Key dairy states Wisconsin and California increased production, but drought-stricken Texas was back over 5% compared with last year. Meanwhile, the weather in northwest Europe is still poor and farmers there are behind on crop planting which could affect supplies later this year.