Eric Hansen, director of GDT, said Polish Dairy offers an innovative approach to the aggregation of products from Polish producers to provide volumes suited to trading on GDT Events.
The company will initially offer skim milk powder, whole milk powder, butter and lactose on the platform, Hansen said.
“Central Europe has become an increasingly important dairy region. The addition of a seller from Poland is evidence of the emerging strength of that nation’s dairy sector, and will be welcomed by our network of over 500 registered GDT Events buyers,” he added.
He said the move reaffirms GDT Events’ role in international trade, and as the leading price discovery mechanism.
Poland dairy sector growing
Polish Dairy chief executive Mirosław Szczepański said accessing a respected mechanism for discovering prices in global markets has become increasingly important as Poland’s dairy production capacity scales up.
Szczepański noted that Poland is now the fifth largest producer of milk in the EU.
“Traditionally, our farmers’ milk went into products for the domestic market,” he said.
“As their efficiency and volumes increase, our dairy sector has become more focused on markets beyond Poland’s borders.
“GDT gives us the opportunity to access worldwide demand for dairy products and to compete more effectively on the world stage. Our entry into the online trading environment is an exciting step for Polish Dairy, our business partners, and our farmers.”
GDT results
This week’s GDT auction saw the GDT Price Index down by 2.4%.
All categories, including butter, were down, with butter milk powder down 10.3%. Only Cheddar showed an increase of more than 1%, with a 1.9% rise to $4,109/MT.
The butter index was down 3.6%, with an average price of $5,837/MT.
GDT launches US lactose multi-seller pool
GDT also recently announced it is broadening its services by hosting its first multi-seller pool, which will offer US-sourced standard lactose products during the GDT trading event on December 5, 2017.
Companies participating in the pool are Agropur Inc, Hilmar Ingredients and Valley Queen Cheese. GDT said several others have expressed interest in taking part early next year.
The service has been established following GDT’s consultation with US dairy buyers and sellers, exploring the feasibility of creating a multi-seller pool to offer supply of standard product specifications on GDT Events.
Hansen said the concept gained support from buyers, sellers and market analysts.
“The high level of interest from US sellers indicates an increasing level of confidence in GDT’s role as a key platform for international trade in a broad range of dairy products, and as a relevant price discovery mechanism. We look forward to broadening the range of ingredients products offered in multi-seller pools in 2018,” Hansen said.
The US sellers are looking for new demand for their lactose products, offered as either Mesh 40, Mesh 100 or Mesh 200 specifications.
Each plant is approved by USDA and FDA agencies and meets 3-A standards.