All but one of the milk buyers in NI have now declared their price for April, with no change on the previous month.

Dale Farm was first out with a price having informed suppliers late last month that it was holding at 25.5p/l. A 0.3p/l loyalty bonus brings members to 25.8p/l.

Aurivo also held following its board meeting this week with an April price of 25.5p/l.

It is the same price at Glanbia Milk and Fivemiletown although it includes their 0.6p/l year-round bonus. Their base price has remained consistent at 25.5p/l since December.

Glanbia Cheese announced its price last week, holding at 25.25p/l, which has been the case since January. Lakeland informed its suppliers at the Balmoral Show that it is holding its base price at 25p/l. At the show, the co-op also announced its decision to remove transport charges on alternate-day milk collection from 1 April.

Elsewhere, Strathroy Dairies remains unchanged at 25p/l.

LacPatrick

That leaves LacPatrick, which is due to announce its April milk price early next week. It paid 25p/l for milk deliveries in March and will be expected, at the very least, to hold this price.

See next week’s edition for our April milk league analysis.

Markets

Despite processors in NI holding, trends in dairy markets remain positive, and could justify some increases in milk price.

There was another strong GDT auction this week, where overall prices rose by 3.2% to US $3,313/t, which roughly equates to a farmgate price of 28p/l to 29p/l after processing costs.

This week’s auction is the fifth consecutive price increase and should lead some processors to review their outlook for milk price in the coming months. Cheddar prices rose 0.6% to US $3,726/t,while whole milk powder (WMP) increased by 1.3% to US $3,312/t.

Skim milk powder prices have been under pressure since the turn of the year, but this week’s auction saw prices increase by 1% to US $1,998/t. Butter markets recorded a huge price increase of 11.2% to US $5,479/t.

Global butter markets are buoyant as demand for butterfat exceeds production levels. Butter exports from key dairy producing regions in the EU were selling at €4,900 to €5,050/t over the past fortnight, matching record prices set in early 2014 when farm-gate prices surpassed the 30p/l barrier.

EU production of butter is down on 2016 levels (a reduction in March of 4.7% year on year), helping to sustain higher prices. The main downside of butter at present is the resultant SMP, which is a much harder product to sell in the current market.