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Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown remains at the top of the NI milk league for August, despite leaving its base price unchanged on 26p/l, a price which includes its 0.6p/l year-round bonus.
It is the eighth month in a row that the Virginia-based processor has led the monthly league table.
Once top-up premiums on milk solids are applied, Glanbia Milk finishes with a price of 26.6p/l for milk collected on alternate days, up from 26.44p/l for the previous month.
Milk quality
Higher milk solids during August had a greater impact on the final league positions compared to previous months.
For August, milk quality is set at 3.95% butterfat, 3.26% protein, 4.64% lactose with 19 TBC and 226 SCC. The outlined figures are taken from DAERA statistics for the same month during the previous year.
Changing positions
Lakeland and Strathroy also left base prices unchanged for last month, whereas Dale Farm, Glanbia Cheese and Aurivo all applied price increases.
As such, there has been considerable change in league positions compared to the previous month, with the gap between top and bottom narrowing from 1.52p/l to just 0.7p/l.
Glanbia Cheese rises three places to finish third on 26.27p/l, which is its highest league position since October 2019.
Dale Farm applied the largest price increase for August
The Magheralin-based processor added 0.75p/l to base price taking it to 25p/l. It also has zero collection charges, and at the outlined milk quality, its 0.4p/l mozzarella bonus applies.
Lakeland slips one place to fourth on 26.17p/l, while Aurivo remains in fifth position despite a 0.75p/l increase in base price bringing suppliers to a starting price of 25p/l.
Dale Farm applied the largest price increase for August, raising its base price by 1p/l to 25.55p/l, which includes the co-op’s 0.3p/l loyalty bonus.
However, with the highest transport charge across all processors, this ultimately takes Dale Farm down the league table.
Bottom
That leaves Strathroy at the bottom, with the Omagh-based processor slipping three places from last month.
After finishing top of the monthly league table for eight consecutive months, it is no surprise that Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown leads the 12-month rolling league table with an alternate day price of 26.41p/l.
Lakeland
Lakeland remains its closest competitor in third place, and is the only other processor to pay above 26p/l over the past 12 months.
For farmers on daily collections, Glanbia Milk is also top on 26.07p/l followed by Aurivo and Strathroy in joint third place.
The average prices paid to 1m litre suppliers for milk produced in August are the highest since February, and are up by 1.25p/l to 1.38p/l over the last two months.
Glanbia Milk continues to dominate our analysis of milk prices paid at the three different milk quality parameters, as outlined in Table B.
The milk qualities used in calculating prices for August are shown in Table 1 on the opposite page. All prices published are based on alternate day collection.
On good quality milk, the average price paid across all processors was 27.77p/l, up from 27.15p/l for the previous month.
Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown finishes top for the fifth consecutive month and across the year to date, March was the only month that it did not secure top spot for good quality milk, having finished second to Lakeland.
Lakeland remains in third place on 27.91p/l, with Glanbia Cheese holding onto fourth place on 27.9p/l. Dale Farm is up two places to finish fifth on 27.72p/l.
Aurivo remains in sixth while Strathroy slips two places to the bottom of the table.
Average quality
On average quality milk, the price paid across all processors is 26.42p/l.
With higher milk solids used in the August price calculations, there has been some changes to final league positions compared to the previous month.
Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown remains out in front on 26.77p/l, up 0.31p/l from the previous month. Despite still having a base price behind others, Glanbia Cheese is up to third with a final price of 26.71p/l, mainly due to its mozzarella bonus and 0.65p/l volume bonus.
Moving down to fourth is Lakeland, with a price 26.38p/l, which just edges out Dale Farm in fifth. Aurivo remains in sixth with Strathroy rounding out the table.
12-month average
As expected, Glanbia Milk is out in front when comparing milk pricing over the last 12 months as shown in Table C.
Starting with good quality milk, there is no change to the table positions compared to the previous month.
Glanbia Milk paid 27.68p/l which keeps it narrowly ahead of Lakeland with a price of 27.64p/l.
On average quality milk, the gap between first and last is just over 0.5p/l, with Glanbia Milk again leading on 26.41p/l.
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