1. What is GDT?

Global Dairy Trade (GDT) is the world’s leading dairy trading and price discovery platform.

Through its transparent, rules-based dairy trading platforms and dairy trading insights services, GDT brings together buyers and sellers from more than 80 countries, facilitating approximately US$2–3 billion in trade annually and creating independently established reference prices grounded in genuine market activity.

These trading insights are widely used across the dairy sector to support physical trade, contracting, market analysis and financial risk management.

The strength of GDT’s price discovery is underpinned by its proven methodology, neutral market-based mechanism and participation from the global dairy community. Alongside its trading platforms, GDT provides dairy trading insights that help organisations better understand market movements and make more informed commercial decisions.

2. Who owns GDT?

Founded in New Zealand in 2008, GDT operates internationally and is jointly owned by New Zealand Exchange (NZX), Fonterra and European Energy Exchange (EEX).

3. What products are traded on GDT?

GDT offers more than 75 dairy products across eight main product groups including Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF), Butter, Butter Milk Powder (BMP), Cheddar, Lactose, Mozzarella, Skim Milk Powder (SMP) and Whole Milk Powder (WMP).

4. When do Trading Events take place?

GDT Trading Events are held twice a month at 12:00 UTC. Check the calendar for upcoming event dates.

5. Who is eligible to participate in GDT Trading Events?

GDT Trading Events are open to businesses that buy or sell dairy commodity products.

Buyers and sellers must register with GDT, meet the relevant eligibility requirements and enter into the required participation agreements before taking part in Trading Events.

Participation is subject to applicable sanctions requirements. Companies located in countries subject to UN or US sanctions are not eligible to participate, while companies located in non-sanctioned countries cannot nominate sanctioned countries as shipping destinations.

GDT's sanctions framework outlines the requirements that apply to participation in GDT Trading Events and is based on legal advice relevant to all countries where GDT Events operates.

6. How do I become a bidder?

To become a GDT bidder, organisations must complete the bidder registration form. Once GDT has completed the registration process, organisations will then need to seek eligibility from the sellers that they wish to purchase from.

Applicants must provide the required information in English and meet GDT’s participation requirements. Companies located in countries subject to applicable US or UN sanctions cannot be registered as bidders.

If your country of incorporation is not listed, please contact the GDT team for further details.

7. How do I become a seller?

To learn more about becoming a GDT seller, contact the GDT team.

Once approved, sellers can offer products to over 300 approved bidders from more than 70 countries while maintaining control over which bidders they trade with.

8. Are there any costs involved to participate as a bidder?

No fees, bonds, deposits or upfront charges of any kind are required from bidders to become a registered bidder or to participate in Trading Events.

9. Can bidders buy from any seller?

Bidders can only purchase products from sellers who have granted them eligibility to participate. Before each Trading Event, sellers review the list of approved bidders and decide which bidders they are willing to sell to.

Bidders will need to contact sellers directly to discuss eligibility, product availability and any other supply terms. View the full list of sellers and products here.

10. What destinations can bidders ship products to?

As an approved bidder, your Bidder Contracting Information (BCI) file outlines the products you are eligible to purchase from each seller, the approved shipment destinations and any additional charges that may apply. You can access your BCI file through MyGDT before each Trading Event.

Sellers are not required to ship products to destinations that are not listed in the BCI file or have not been agreed with the bidder before purchase. If your preferred destination is not listed, please contact your seller representative to discuss your options.

11. What benefits do buyers stand to gain from participating in the GDT platform?

Bidders benefit from access to a transparent marketplace that delivers independently established market-based prices, the flexibility to choose delivery periods that suit their needs and the ability to manage price exposure across multiple Trading Events.

The platform also simplifies procurement by reducing the need for extensive resources to manage supplier sourcing and negotiations.

12. What benefits do sellers stand to gain from participating in the GDT platform?

By listing products on GDT Events, sellers gain access to global buyers, expand their market reach and gain insight into market demand, while benefitting from a transparent process for independently establishing market-based prices.

GDT enables sellers to continue to have control over their trading relationships, including which bidders they choose to sell to, while serving as an additional sales channel to help manage market volatility.

13. How does a GDT Trading Event work?

The Trading Manager conducts Trading Events on the GDT Events Auction website, where approved bidders bid on the quantity they wish to purchase at announced prices through a series of timed rounds. Each Trading Event lasts approximately two to three hours.

A Trading Event typically follows these steps:

a) Five days before each Trading Event, the Trading Manager confirms the quantities available and the starting prices for the first bidding round. This information is made available to registered and approved bidders through the GDT Events Auction website.

b) At the start of the Trading Event, bidders enter the quantities they wish to purchase at the announced starting prices. The Trading Manager closes the first bidding round after a set period.

c) In each subsequent bidding round, where total bids exceed the quantity available, the Trading Manager raises the price and bidders enter revised quantities.

d) The process continues round by round until the bids no longer exceed the quantity available for purchase, meaning the available quantity has been cleared.

The diagram below illustrates a typical Trading Event (for one product/contract period):

Shortly after the Trading Event ends, the Trading Manager confirms the quantities won by each bidder and the final price reached on the GDT Events Auction website.

This final price becomes the winning price paid by successful bidders and the published market price.

14. What happens after a successful bid?

After a successful bid, the winning quantities and prices are confirmed, and Trading Event results are published on the GDT website. Published results include information such as the GDT Price Index, number of participating bidders and price changes from the previous Trading Event.

Following the event, the seller will contact the successful bidder to complete the contracting process. The product is then shipped according to the seller’s standard logistics arrangements.

15. What delivery timeframes are available?

Products on GDT Trading Events are offered across up to six contract periods, with each contract period representing a different month of shipment.

Sellers choose which contract periods to offer for each product, while bidders select the contract periods that best meet their purchasing needs.

This flexibility allows participants to manage delivery requirements and price exposure when planning their purchases.

16. How are GDT prices determined?

GDT prices are determined through an ascending-price clock auction.

During a Trading Event, buyers submit bids at announced prices. Each product starts with a starting price, which is the price offered in the first round. If demand exceeds the quantity available, the price increases and an announced price is set for the next round, allowing buyers to adjust their bids.

This process continues until the auction closes and a winning price is established. Where bidding demand is sufficient to cause the announced price to increase from the starting price, the price is considered market-determined.

17. What is the GDT Price?

The GDT Price is the winning price established for each product and contract period at the end of a Trading Event.

Unless otherwise specified, GDT prices are published in US dollars per metric tonne (USD/MT) and are quoted on either a Free Alongside (FAS) or Free Carrier (FCA) basis.

All successful bidders for the same product pay the same winning price. Winning bidders may also be required to pay freight rates, insurance and other ancillary charges previously specified by the seller. These charges are notified to all registered bidders before each Trading Event in the BCI file.

If a product is sold at its starting price and is not market-determined, GDT does not publicly disclose the price to keep the seller’s starting price confidential. This can occur when demand for the product is lower than the maximum quantity offered by the seller or when only part of the quantity offered is sold.

18. When are results published?

GDT Trading Event results are published on the Results page shortly after each event closes. Published results include available winning prices and market information such as the GDT Price Index and price changes from the previous Trading Event.

Individual bidder identities and purchased quantities remain confidential.

19. How are Price Indices calculated?

The GDT Price Index measures changes in prices between Trading Events using a weighted average of percentage price changes.

Only winning prices that are higher than starting prices are included in the calculation. This approach provides a more accurate reflection of market price movements than a simple average price calculation. A more detailed explanation can be found here.

20. How does GDT ensure fair and transparent trading?

GDT ensures fair and transparent trading through a governance framework built around independence, neutrality and transparency.

The GDT Trading Event Rules set out how GDT Events operate, while the GDT Events Oversight Board represents the interests of participants trading on the GDT Events platform and provides oversight of its operations.

GDT Events operations are monitored by the Board and subject to independent external audit. The Board comprises three GDT bidder-members and three GDT seller members, alongside three financial market members who reflect the role of GDT prices in the NZX dairy derivatives market.

The Board reviews proposed changes to the GDT Trading Event Rules and ensures the operation of the trading platform is consistent with its guiding principles.

In the event of alleged breaches of the rules by participants or their affiliates, the GDT Complaints Ruling Panel reviews complaints submitted for consideration.

21. What do GDT results terms mean?

GDT results use a range of terms to help participants better understand Trading Event outcomes:

• Quantity sold refers to the total quantity sold across all products, contract periods and sellers in a Trading Event.
• Minimum supply and maximum supply represent the lower and upper limits of the quantities sellers wish to offer during a Trading Event. Maximum supply may also be referred to as the seller’s offer quantity.
• The number of participating bidders refers to the number of bidders who entered a bid in the first round of a Trading Event.
• Average winning price is the quantity-weighted average of winning prices achieved during a Trading Event.

In GDT results:

• ‘–’ indicates that a product was not offered.
• ‘n.s.’ (not sold) indicates that no product was sold.
• ‘n.p.’ (not published) indicates that a winning price was assessed as non-market determined and therefore was not published.
• ‘n.a.’ indicates that no applicable price or calculation was available for that product or contract period.
• Location abbreviations: NZ (New Zealand), AU (Australia), BE (Belgium), US (United States), IE (Ireland), EU (Europe), DE (Germany), SE (Sweden), UK (United Kingdom) and DK (Denmark)