Dutch dairy giant Friesland Campina has raised its guaranteed milk price for the month of October to 39c/litre.

This is a 1c/litre increase on September’s guaranteed milk price and the highest guaranteed milk price the Dutch processor has announced since January.

Improved conditions

Friesland said it was raising its milk price in response to improved dairy market conditions, where it said it expected price increases for some of its dairy products.

Friesland’s guaranteed milk price applies to an average dairy farmer supplying 800,000kg of milk annually, with a protein content of 3.5% and far content of 4.4%.

The average guaranteed milk price paid by Friesland Campina for 2018 stands at 37c/litre, which is 2c below the 2017 average price of 39c/litre.

August milk production

According to Eurostat, Dutch milk production for the month of August stood at just over 1.1bn litres, which is down 3% on the same month last year.

Closer to home, Eurostat figures show Irish milk production for August stood at 811m litres, which is almost 4% ahead of the same month last year.

However, as a result of the exceptional weather this year, Irish milk production for the first eight months of 2018 (Jan-Aug) remains 1% behind last year at a cumulative 5.4bn litres.

August milk production figures for other large dairy-producing countries such as the UK, France, Germany and Poland are expected over the coming week and will be closely watched by dairy markets.