Global dairy prices plunged by 7.4 percent overnight at the Global Dairy Trade auction.

Whole Milk Powder - a key driver for Fonterra's prices - dropped 10.9 percent, the lowest level in nearly 5 years.

Dairy NZ director Jacqueline Rowarth says this decline is partially led by softening demand from China amid Covid-19 restrictions. 

"This has been a game that has been played before, it's very difficult to tell what's going on in China. We love them as a market, but in terms of customers, it can be very challenging."

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