Dairy prices slipped slightly overnight in the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) event, easing 0.7 percent.
The fall comes after overall prices surged 8.3 percent in the previous GDT auction two weeks ago.
The average price in Wednesday's auction was US$3201 per metric tonne (MT), down from the previous average price of US$3197/MT.
Prices increased for whole milk powder, which was up 0.6 percent to US$3218/MT, and cheddar, which rose 0.6 percent to US$3803/MT. However all other commodities fell.
The price for butter dropped 4.9 percent to US$3533/MT, anhydrous milk fat was down 2.8 percent to US$3870/MT, lactose down 2.5 percent to US$1279/MT, and skim milk powder fell 0.5 percent to US$2680/MT.
NZX said the market had been expecting a smaller result at the auction given the large lift in the previous event.
ASB said it was encouraged by the prices in the latest GDT events but put some of the strength down to "buyers adding some padding to stocks as a risk management strategy given the acceleration in global COVID-19 cases and increased potential for logistics disruption".
Last week Fonterra revised both its 2019/2020 and 2020/21 milk price forecast ranges.
For the season just ended, the co-op now expects to pay farmers between $7.10 and $7.20 per kilogram of milk solids, down from its earlier forecast of $7.10 and $7.30 per kilogram of milk solids.
