Suppliers to Tirlán continue to be given a firm indication of the returns they will receive over the coming months, with the co-op committing to a price for June, July and August of 31.7p/l “subject to any unforeseen events”.

That price includes their 0.5p sustainability payment and is up 0.8p/l on the 30.9p/l base the company has paid from March through to May 2026.

However, there is also a market-based support payment of 0.4p/l to be added to the May price, which effectively takes the starting point to 31.3p/l. This 0.4p payment has also been retrospectively applied to March and April volumes, with that additional money included in the May milk cheque.

Other processors have also increased May prices, with Dale Farm competing with Tirlán at the top end of our milk league after it added another 1p/l to a “market support” payment, taking its starting point to 32.3p/l.

The same 1p/l increase was applied by Omagh-based Strathroy, leaving its base at 30.5p/l, while Lakeland increased its base price by 0.5p/l, taking it to 30.1p/l.

However, both Aurivo and Leprino kept their price unchanged for May milk, with Aurivo suppliers on 30.5p/l and Leprino on a base of 28.75p/l. We will have a full analysis of May prices in next weeks’ milk league.

Commodities

While some local processors have increased their farm gate prices, it is whey markets that continue to generate good returns, not other dairy commodities.

On Wednesday, European butter at the weekly Dutch Dairy Board auction was down €50/t to €3,750/t – it is the fourth week in a row that butter has dropped in price.

Whole milk powder was down €100 to €3,100/t, with skim dropping €70 to €2,690/t.