All milk processors in NI have now declared base prices for July supplies, and across all companies the average base price comes to 25.08p/l – the lowest average in NI since November 2016.

Aurivo was the last to declare, and is holding at 25.25p/l. That followed the trend set by the three main buyers of milk in NI, who all decided to hold, with Lakeland on 25.25p/l, Dale Farm at 25.3p/l (once the 0.3p/l loyalty bonus is added in) and Glanbia Cheese on 24.75p/l.

However, Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown cut its milk price for July by 0.5p to a base of 25p/l, which includes the processor’s 0.6p/l year-round supply bonus.

The only other milk processor to make a price cut was Strathroy, which took 0.5p/l off, leaving base price at 25p/l.

Full details on July milk pricing will be available in next week’s milk league.

Price slip

The most recent DAERA statistics show that farmgate milk prices in NI averaged 26.43p/l in June, down by 0.16p/l on the previous month and a reduction of 1.1p on June 2018.

Milk production during June totalled 218m litres, down from the record monthly figure of 235m litres in May. For the six-month period from January to June, milk production stands at a record 1.28bn litres compared with 1.25bn litres for the same period last year.

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