1. Who is involved in GDT Events?
2. What delivery timeframes are available on GDT?
3. When do Trading Events take place?
4. How do GDT Events work?
6. Can I see the results for other bidders?
7. How are Price Indices calculated?
8. Why become a GDT Events bidder?
9. What costs are involved for GDT Events bidders?
5. What is the GDT Price?
10. Can bidders buy product from any seller?
11. What destinations can bidders send product to?
12. Why become a seller on GDT Events?
13. Are there any barriers to joining GDT Events?
14. Explanatory Notes
GDT Events connects sellers from around the globe with bidders from over 70 countries, facilitating trade across languages, time zones and commercial realities.
GDT is owned and managed as a strategic partnership between the European Energy Exchange (EEX), Fonterra Cooperative Group, and New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX), with equal one-third shareholdings. EEX and NZX bring reputations and expertise as regulated exchanges, and Fonterra is one of the world’s largest dairy exporters who founded GDT in 2008 and is by far our largest customer.
The three partners and GDT management share a strong common interest in credible price discovery and a shared vision to significantly grow the volume of physical and financial dairy trading.
To further protect and maintain the integrity of GDT Events, an independent Trading Manager conducts all Trading Events. The independent Trading Manager must comply with the GDT Trading Event Rules regarding the conduct of each Trading Event. An independent Trading Manager is vital to maintain the integrity of the GDT Events platform and the confidence of the global dairy market. By using an independent Trading Manager, we can be sure that each Trading Event is run independently from all participants.
CRA International, Inc. d/b/a Charles River Associates (CRA), is our independent GDT Events Trading Manager and conducts all the Trading Events. CRA is an economics, financial and management consulting services firm listed on the NASDAQ and based in Boston, USA.
Trading Event operations are monitored by the GDT Events Oversight Board and externally audited, so you can trust in their independence. The GDT Events Oversight Board represents the interests of the parties trading on the GDT Events platform and oversees GDT Events operations.
The Chairperson is an independent third party who is not a current representative or affiliate of GDT, the Trading Manager, any seller, bidder or financial member. The stakeholder members of the GDT Events Oversight Board comprise three GDT bidder-members, three GDT seller members, and three financial market members. The latter reflects the role of GDT prices in the NZX dairy derivatives market. The GDT Events Oversight Board reviews any proposed changes to the GDT Trading Event Rules and ensures the operation of the trading platform is in accordance with its guiding principles.
Sellers can offer products in any of six contract periods, each one representing a month when product is shipped. The diagram below shows the six contract periods available for Trading Events in May.
Sellers and bidders choose which contract periods they wish to offer/purchase, and this provides a useful method for both parties to manage their price exposure.
Trading Events operate twice a month at 12:00 UTC. See calendar for specific dates.
The Trading Manager conducts Trading Events on the GDT Events Auction Website, where bidders bid on the quantity they wish to purchase at announced prices through a series of timed rounds. Trading Events last approximately 2-3 hours.
a) Five days prior to the start of each Trading Event, the Trading Manager confirms the quantities available and starting prices for the first round of bidding, and this information becomes available for registered bidders to view.
b) At the start of the Trading Event, each bidder enters the quantities they wish to purchase at the announced starting prices. The Trading Manager closes the first bidding round after a set period of time.
c) In each successive bidding round, if the total bids are greater than the quantity on offer, the Trading Manager raises the price and bidders enter new quantities.
d) This continues round-by-round until there no longer is a product with bid quantity greater than the quantity available for purchase (i.e. the available quantity is cleared).
The diagram below illustrates a typical Trading Event (for one product/contract period)
Shortly after the Trading Event has closed, the Trading Manager confirms on the GDT Events Auction Website the quantities won for each bidder and the winning price.
Following the Trading Event, the bidders are contacted by the seller to complete the contracting process. Product is shipped through the seller's standard logistics process.
Although you cannot see who won a particular product, the winning prices for each product/contract period are available on this website following the event. Results are published on the Results page shortly after the Trading Event. The quantities purchased remain confidential to the seller and successful bidder.
The GDT Price Index uses a weighted-average of the percentage changes in prices. GDT Price Indices are used to avoid the bias of a simple weighted average price, and to give a more accurate reflection of the price movements between Trading Events. Only winning prices that are higher than starting prices are included in the price index calculations. More details on the calculations can be found on the briefing note from our GDT Price Index page.
GDT Events bidders gain access to a large and increasing range of commodity products from sellers around the world, and can be assured of paying a competitive, market-determined price at each Trading Event.
As a bidder on GDT Events, you decide when and how much you purchase, and how far forward you want to secure product. You have flexibility during the auction to switch your bids between products, contract periods and sellers (subject to eligibility).
GDT Events ensures a level playing field where all bidders are treated equally, irrespective of size, region or purchase history. All winning bidders pay the same price for the same product.
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.
Unless otherwise specified on the GDT Events Auction Website, all starting prices, announced prices, and winning prices for products offered at Trading Events are stated in US dollars per MT (USD/MT) and are specified on either a Free Along Side (FAS) basis at the specified shipment locations or FCA (Free Carrier). See GDT Events Results Explanatory Notes for a breakdown of which sellers are using which.
Starting prices are the prices at which each product is offered for the first round of bidding.
Announced prices are the prices announced at the start of each subsequent round.
Winning prices are the final prices at the close of the auction.
The price paid by successful bidders will be the winning price. All winning bidders pay the same FAS or FCA price. Winning bidders may be required to pay freight rates, insurance and any ancillary charges previously specified between the sellers and bidder. These charges are notified to all registered bidders prior to each Trading Event in the bidder contracting information file.
GDT publishes all winning prices that are higher than their starting prices or ‘market determined’. A Winning Price is assessed as being ‘market determined’ in any circumstance where bidding demand was sufficient to cause an increase in Announced Price from the Starting price, irrespective of whether bidding demand was or was not sufficient to result in the Announced Price becoming the Winning Price at the close of the Trading Event.
Where product is sold at its starting price and non-market determined, anti-trust compliance considerations prevent GDT Events from making these prices publicly available. This can occur when demand for that product is lower than the maximum quantity offered by the seller (in which case a price increase is not warranted), and when only some, but not all of the offered quantity is sold.
Bidders can only purchase product from a seller if that seller has granted them eligibility. Prior to each Trading Event, sellers review the full list of all registered bidders, and allocate eligibility to those they wish to sell to. We encourage bidders to contact sellers to discuss eligibility and any other supply terms.
As a registered bidder, your own Bidder Contracting Information file (BCI) specifies the products that you may purchase from each seller and the ports that the seller will ship these products to. The BCI file also lists any additional charges that may apply. You can check your BCI files by logging into MyGDT before each Trading Event.
Sellers have no obligation to ship to a country that is not listed on a bidder’s BCI file or has not been agreed between the bidder and the seller prior to purchase. If the country that the bidder wishes to ship to is not listed in the BCI, please contact your seller representative.
GDT Events brings bidders and sellers together and provides a process for setting a fair price. Joining GDT Events as a seller does not interfere with customer relations; in fact, it strengthens them through more regular contact without bargaining tension. Sellers retain the key relationship, including continuing to manage all aspects of contract execution.
Sellers have full access to all registered bidders. Each seller determines which bidders they are willing to trade with and are encouraged to market and promote their products to maximise bidder interest.
GDT Events closing prices represent the current market price for commodity products, thus they provide a foundation for each seller to measure their value added activities. Sellers can be confident that their product will be sold to those willing to pay the current market price, enabling them to focus more of their effort on creating additional value for their businesses.
All sellers and buyers who genuinely sell or purchase dairy ingredients products can join the GDT Events platform. The only exception to this are companies located in a country under UN or US sanctions. Furthermore, companies located in a non-sanctioned country cannot specify shipping destinations to sanctioned countries.
GDT sanctions framework is based on legal advice relevant to all countries where GDT Events has an interest, and this includes the US where CRA International Inc, the Trading Manager of GDT Events, is located.
Quantity sold is the total quantity sold in a Trading Event across all products, contract periods and sellers. The quantity sold may be less than the minimum supply if the quantity bid on a product in the first bidding round was less than the minimum supply
Minimum supply and maximum supply are the lower and upper bounds on the quantities the sellers wish to sell in the Trading Event. The maximum supply is also sometimes referred to as the sellers' offer quantity.
The number of participating bidders is the number of bidders who entered a bid in the first round of the Trading Event.
Average winning price is the quantity-weighted average of winning prices at the Trading Event. “n.a.” for the winning price means that no prices were available for that contract period and therefore no average price was applicable.
“n.a.” for the percentage change in GDT Price Index means that no product was offered or sold, or no price was published for the last event, or on both of the two previous events. I.e. a change in the GDT Price Index is only shown if there is a price available for the last event AND for at least one of the two previous events.
NZ: New Zealand, AU: Australia, BE: Belgium, US: the United States, IN: India, EU: Europe, DE: Germany, SE: Sweden, UK: United Kingdom, DK: Denmark.
' – ' indicates that the product was not offered.
‘n.s.’ (not sold) indicates that no product was sold.
‘n.p.’ (not published) indicates that the winning price was assessed as being non-market determined, and therefore GDT Events cannot publish the winning price. A Winning Price is assessed as being non-market determined in any circumstance where bidding demand during the Trading Event was insufficient to cause the Product’s Announced Price to increase above its Starting Price. Conversely, a Winning Price is assessed as being ‘market-determined’ in any circumstance where bidding demand was sufficient to cause an increase in Announced Price, irrespective of whether bidding demand was or was not sufficient to result in the Announced Price becoming the Winning Price at the close of the Trading Event.
'n.a.' for an Average Price means that no prices were available for that contract period (for the reasons above), and therefore no average price was applicable.
