The latest sale of the EU's skimmed milk powder out of intervention has all but cleared out stocks, leaving only 6% of the total left to sell.
Over 80,000 tonnes of the remaining stocks were accepted as sold at the 8 January tender, bringing the total product sold to date to nearly 358,000 tonnes.
With significant volumes of product shifted over recent months, an estimated 22,000 tonnes will be available for the next tender on 5 February, making it very likely that stocks will be cleared in the next tender.
With stock levels dropping, and demand for fresh product strong, prices have been rising. The minimum price was set at €1,554/tonne at the last tender, a €103/tonne (7%) increase compared the previous tender, and in line with price movements in the fresh market.
Public intervention, managed by the European Commission, played an important role in stabilising markets between 2015 and 2017, helping to remove surpluses in an extraordinarily imbalanced scenario.
The Commission opened at the end of 2016 a process of monthly and later bi-monthly public tenders to gradually put these stocks back into the market.
