Glanbia increased its base milk price for January supplies by 1c/l to 29.41c/l (excluding VAT) and Kerry announced it was holding its price at 29.8c/l (excluding VAT) this week. The board of Lakeland Dairies is due to meet today, Thursday, to set its price.

ICMSA dairy committee chair Gerald Quain said that the Glanbia decision reflected an underlying market strength. He added that the latest data available raises questions about the levels of supply against constant demand.

Meanwhile, Irish dairy farmers produced a record 7.95bn litres of milk in 2019, which was up 5%, or more than 400m litres, on 2018. This means since the end of dairy quotas, Irish milk production has grown by 2.5bn litres – 46%.

The surge in Irish milk production last year was driven by very strong growth in milk supplies in the first half of the year, with milk production topping 1bn litres in the peak month of May for the very first time.

Farmers in Northern Ireland are still waiting on full-year production figures, but 2019 production is expected to be a record figure, coming in at just under 2.4bn litres, an increase of 2% on 2018.

Since 2000, production in Northern Ireland is up 47%.