---
title: Market Volatility Continues in EU Dairy
description: Market Volatility Continues in EU Dairy
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# Market Volatility Continues in EU Dairy
[back to insight ](https://www-mintecglobal-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/our-insight-2018)
February 17, 2023
2 mins read
While the market sentiment for all major dairy commodities (SMP, butter and cheese) was reported bullish in the first two weeks of February, this has changed slightly during this week’s assessment period (9th February 2023 16:00 BST – 16th February 2023 15:59:59 BST). The strong bullish trend seen throughout the first half of the month continued up until Monday 13th February, but since then, activity and prices have started to decline again. The price decreases were primarily driven by a drop in buying interest. While buying and trading activity in the previous two weeks was strong, reported from all sides of the trade (buyers, producers, and traders), this buying interest has largely moved out of the market again. Consumer goods producers and food processors largely bought for late February and early March, targeting Easter production, and traders have been reported in the spot market to offset short positions. While this increased demand supported the bullish sentiment, other key fundamentals such as milk intake, production, and stock levels have remained bearish, which indicated that recent price intakes are, suggesting a sentiment-driven market as opposed to a fundamentals-based one.
When buying interest started to decline throughout Monday 13th February, sentiment started to turn bearish. Sellers have limited their offers in previous weeks to support the upward trend. With the change in sentiment, more offers have been reported in the market.
One market trader commented, “fundamentals are bearish, but dairy is not purely fundamentals-driven. As we have seen throughout last year, the sentiment of market participants and their nervousness play a big role as well. We anticipate seeing the price for butter and SMP decline in the coming weeks. However, we have reduced our short position and are taking a more careful approach.”
A buyer stated, “we are still uncertain about the consumer demand, we are taking a more cautious approach to covering our demand as we are still uncertain how good buying interest will be. We have covered enough volumes already to ensure supply security for Q1 and early Q2 2023. The remaining volumes will be covered in smaller steps over the coming weeks.”
Topics: [Dairy & Eggs](https://www.mintecglobal.com/top-stories/tag/dairy-eggs)
Sandro Schulz
EMEA Protein Team Lead
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