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Milk processors in Britain have announced price reductions for March.
First Milk will apply a 4p/l price cut, bringing its liquid milk price to 44.02p/l with its manufacturing litre dropping to 45.69p/l. Arla has opted for a 2.54p/l cut, which will lower its liquid price to 44.09p/l and its manufacturing litre to 47.86p/l. It follows a 1.12p/l cut for February.
Müller dropped 1p/l in February and is down 3p/l for March, bringing its liquid price to 44p/l.
Glanbia Cheese will cut its base prices in Britain by 4p/l from 1 March. This will put its manufacturing litre on 43.25p/l for milk produced at a base of 4.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein.
Dairy farmers supplying liquid milk to Tesco and Sainsbury’s through Müller and Arla face a 3p/l and 2p/l reduction respectively for milk supplied in March.
Cream
With 50% of the milk pool in Britain sold into liquid markets, cream is a valuable commodity that bolsters milk price.
However, cream is currently valued around 135p/kg, well short of the 280p/kg peak recorded back in November.
Lakeland
While milk pricing in Britain differs from NI, it is generally accepted that local processors will also implement price reductions this spring. On Tuesday, Lakeland warned suppliers of a “significant milk price correction in the coming months,” highlighting that the value of butter and skim milk powder has fallen by 40% since September.
GDT
This week also saw the first GDT event for February, with the price index increasing by 3.2%, the largest single increase since 6 September.
However, it is only the fifth time that a positive result has been recorded over the last 16 GDT auctions stretching back to mid-June.
There were also some positive moves at the Dutch Dairy Board auction on Wednesday, with butter up €150 to €4,450/t and skim up €50 to €2,450/t. Whole milk powder (WMP) was unchanged.
However, when compared to prices in August 2022, butter is still down over €2,500/t, with skim and WMP both dropping by over €1,000/t.
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