On Thursday 17 November, Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s leading dairy company, announced a significant increase in its milk price.

The company announced a 2.5p/l increase on its base milk price, along with the 2p/l winter bonus paid for October, November and December. This brings Dale Farm’s base price to 24.8p/l for milk of average constituents, excluding bonuses for milk quality.

Nick Whelan, group chief executive of Dale Farm, said that on Thursday Dale Farm “announced a significant lift in our milk base price to our farmer members. We have said consistently that the business would give back once the market delivered, and we have kept this promise. This increase will hopefully reaffirm our members’ confidence and pride in Dale Farm after two years of falling global prices”.

Whelan added that Dale Farm’s farmers were “very supportive” at the company’s AGM in Cookstown on Thursday when the price increase was announced.

“The performance of the business in the past 12 months and our vision for the future was very well accepted,” he said. “We have a strong customer base that recognises the value of Dale Farm post-Brexit, and our members felt reassured by this. They asked constructive and progressive questions today of the board and me, and accepted the decision to open the milk pool to new suppliers.”

Dale Farm is a dairy company with a global reach, owned by a cooperative made up of more than 1,300 dairy farmers in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland.

Milk price in the Republic

The price increase in the North reflects price movements in the Republic where all the co-ops so far have raised their prices for October milk.

Read more

Milk prices up 2p/l for October