The latest quotes for butter in the US are up from $3,851/t to $3,912/t from the last quotes in early April to the most recent quotes on 19 April 2015.

US skim milk prices are down to $2,044 from €2,125. Whole milk powder quotes are the same at $2,855/t and cheddar prices are also the same at $3,470/t.

EU quotes for the same products saw butter fall from $3,466/t to $3,354/t. Skim fell slightly also – from $2,223/t to €2,172/t. Whole milk powder quotes fell from $3,003 to $2,874 and cheddar fell from $3,511 to $3,387/t.

Oceania quotes for butter were up from US$3,475/t to $3,350/t and skim quotes were down from $2,700 to $2,475. Whole milk powder were quotes were more or less unchanged, as were cheddar prices at US$3,500/t.

EU butter quotes were $5,000/t in April 2014 compared with $3,354/t this week, while skim was $4,330/t in 2014 compared with $2,172/t this week, whole milk powder was $4,960/t compared with $2,874/t this week and cheddar quotes were $5,540/t compared with $3,387/t this week.

The huge gap between this year and last year signals the difference in milk price and hence margin in 2014 compared with 2015 on Irish dairy farms.

In terms of EU milk collections, the 2015 season is more or less mirroring the 2015 season in the EU as a whole. In fact, January and February collections were down 1% on 2014 collections as poor prices and higher input prices bite.

Germany, France, the UK and the Netherlands were all down in January and February supply by 1.6%, 1.9%, 0.3% and 2.3% respectively.