1m litre prices drop into the mid-30s

The 3p/l winter bonuses in place across all processors has helped to ensure returns to 1m-litre suppliers remain above the 30p/l mark.

Shown in Table B are the prices paid in December for milk at three different qualities.

Those milk qualities, shown in Table 1 on the opposite page, are lower than in November, with the reductions in line with the actual changes notified to us by processors. It leaves our average solids at 4.42% butterfat and 3.45% protein, compared to 4.53% and 3.50% respectively last month.

Tirlán leads in the prices paid for high, average and low-quality milk in December, having sat narrowly behind Dale Farm last month.

Aurivo has also moved up, to sit third across all three milk qualities. Strathroy was at the bottom of the table last month, but is up to fifth for high quality milk and in fourth for both average and low solids.

That leaves Leprino and Lakeland Dairies at the foot of the 1m-litre tables for December.

The two processors paid from the lowest base prices in December and while Lakeland is ahead of Leprino in our main 750,000l analysis, Leprino pays a 0.65p/l volume bonus to 1m litre suppliers. Once included, it takes the Leprino price paid above its rival.

Rolling prices

The rolling average price paid by each processor to 1m litre suppliers during 2025 is shown in Table C.

Virtually all the prices paid remain over 40p/l, although when compared to last month, these 12-month averages are down by around 1p/l due to prices from December 2024 (of nearly 50p/l) dropping out of the calculation.

Tirlán continues to lead across high and average solids milk. It has also displaced Aurivo at the top of the analysis for low solids milk.

Dale Farm sits in second across all three qualities, with Aurivo and Lakeland Dairies closely matched in mid-table.