On December 3 the business switched from being a pure fresh milk trading hub to including cream, milk powder, whey, butter, non-cow milk and more.
This expansion comes after a successful first year for the Milk Exchange, which is owned by Melbourne-based milk services company Milk2Market.
Milk2Market commercial development manager Richard Lange said the Milk Exchange had a good 2020 after being launched in October 2019.
“We expected to trade about 20 million litres in the first year because it was new and people were experimenting with it, but we ended up seeing 100 million litres traded,” Mr Lange said.
The 100 million litres of surplus, uncontracted milk was supplied by more than 400 dairy farmers.
Most of these early-adopting farmers came from south-west and northern Victoria, Gippsland in south-east Victoria, and the NSW south coast.
Despite the success, there still remains a milk deficit as farmers get to grips with the platform and its growing list of buyers.
“With the good season we’re seeing a few farmers trying it out to see if they can get a better price for their surplus milk rather than just selling it to their main supplier,” Mr Lange said.
“My advice is to talk to your advisers and trial the site out.
“Don’t go all in, test what the Milk Exchange can offer you and make sure you understand what the opportunity is.
“We have a team of industry experts here that you can talk to as well.”
The minimum amount a farmer can sell through the Milk Exchange is 400 litres.
There are no maximums and several farmers have formed 12-month supply contracts through the site.
It’s the buyer's responsibility to organise how the dairy product is collected from the farm, with some of them relying on the Milk Exchange’s own delivery service.
Northern Victorian farmers have the most to gain when using the Milk Exchange as they can sell down into Victoria, up into NSW and, in certain cases, across to South Australia since the site has no milk pool limitations.
“We’re very interested to see how the northern Victoria region responds to this,” Mr Lange said.
Milk Exchange chair David Green said the online trading hub has brought the milk supply chain down to three clicks.
“It’s a three-click process: dairy buyers and sellers nominate their buy and sell requirements; accept that offer or make a counter-offer; and with the final click, the trade is accepted under standard terms and conditions,” Mr Green said.
The new cheese-including Milk Exchange is named Dairy Trades @ Milk Exchange and can be visited at www.milkexchange.com.au where registering is free and comes with no obligations to trade.
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