While there is a slight softening of prices for some of the key commodities, it is still a very positive picture for dairy markets and where they are going.

The latest prices from the EU milk market observatory show skim milk powder at €2560/t, which is up over 21% compared to the same month last year.

Whole milk powder at €3,210 is up over 15% compared to the same time period last year. Butter, at €4,060/t, is up a whopping 26% compared to the same period last year.

These prices underpin the markets and show stability when European flows are at their highest.

While Irish milk supplies are up for the last three months through peak, that hasn’t been the situation across Europe, with some of the big players down in supply from January to April.

Germany, France and the Netherlands – the big three – were all back over 2% during that period.

Irish milk supply is up significantly in Aurivo and Lakeland, which operate primarily in the top half of the country.

While grass growth rates have dropped off considerably over the last number of weeks, the anticipation is that rain is on the way which will boost grass growth rates back to seasonal norms and keep supply up compared to 2020. At the moment Ireland is running well ahead of 2020 annual supply.

New Zealand production hasn’t really started yet but will start to grow through July. It normally peaks in October, similar to Australia. US milk production dips slightly over July to August but supply was ahead in the US for the first part of the year.

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