Milk buyers lift bid prices at Milk Exchange May 19 event

But no contracts were settled as bids failed to meet the offer prices from milk suppliers.

Milk Exchange general manager, commercial development Richard Lange said there was a 16 per cent increase in volumes offered by suppliers in both NSW and Victoria at this auction.

Offers totalled 118.2 million litres of farm milk.

New buyers entered the market and bidding was higher in both Gippsland (up 38 cents a kilogram milk solids) and south-west Victoria (up 8c/kg MS).

In Victoria overall, bids from milk buyers ranged from $6.70-$7.15/kg MS at an average of $6.94/kg - up 26c/kg MS from last auction on May 5.

Mr Lange said with more opening price announcements from dairy companies, the gap between milk suppliers and milk buyers narrowed by 13c/kg MS.

"However, the spread (gap) between offer prices and bid prices remains a barrier to settlement of milk contracts for the new season," he said.

"The announcement of prices on June 1 will be an important driver for trades at subsequent auctions."

The next trading event will be on Wednesday, June 2, from 10am to 2pm.

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The Milk Exchange broke new ground for the Australian dairy industry when it started online auction for farm milk in April.

Almost all the major milk buyers participated with hundreds of visits to the exchange's website before and during the auction to assess the farm milk on offer.

Mr Lange said it was a great step forward in understanding how the technology added transparency and market choice for farmers.

Farmers who participated had taken a step forward to proactively marketing their milk instead of being reactive to offers from dairy companies.

"This is a case of farmers taking control and offering their milk pro-actively," he said.

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