World wholesale prices

Updated 17 June 2026

This price series looks at the average wholesale prices of certain dairy products from the EU, Oceania and the USA. It aims to provide an overview of global wholesale price movements which can affect prices closer to home.

N.B. The US butter, SMP and cheese pricing source has been replaced with CLAL.

EU

Milk deliveries continued to grow in April, despite falling milk prices.

In May, EU wholesale prices of dairy products were mixed. Butter prices continued to decline while prices of SMP climbed higher.

Butter prices fell, declining by 6.4% month-on-month. The average price of SMP increased by 4% and that of WMP witnessed a decrease of 2.1% month-on-month.

The average price of cheese decreased by 0.8% during the period according to the Milk Market Observatory.

USA

Milk deliveries in the USA are showing no indication of slowdown, alongside high investment in processing facilities.

CLAL reported a large divergence in price between protein and fats. SMP saw incredibly strong gains during the month of May, taking the average to another record-breaking level, and up by 11.5% month-on-month. High production levels led to an increase in inventories during the period but remained lower than that of 2025. WMP maintained the high price, with a marginal decline of 0.3% since April.

Meanwhile, May butter prices reduced by a further 6.5% from the previous month. So far for June, buyer activity appears to be improving ahead of summer demand.

The average Cheddar cheese price saw a decline of 3.6%. Cheese production is sufficient to keep up with demand.

Oceania

In New Zealand, milk output finished the milk season strongly in May. Record milk solids have been processed this season due to favourable weather supporting pasture growth and good economics.

In Australia, production is picking up after a period of decline. Despite rising input costs and increasing drought risk, milk prices have remained supported.

Average prices of dairy products declined for butter and Cheddar cheese in May, by 5.4% and 2.5%, respectively. SMP prices increased by 1.9% during the period while the average price of WMP increased by 0.9%.

Table 1. World wholesale prices for butter

Table 2. World wholesale prices for SMP

Table 3. World wholesale prices for WMP

Table 4. World wholesale prices for Cheddar cheese

Source: USDA

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