All milk buyers in NI have now declared their base price for April. LacPatrick was last to set its price, with the cross-border co-op holding its base at 25p/l.

However, the co-op will pay suppliers a 1.5p/l support payment on all milk delivered during April.

This puts LacPatrick on 26.5p/l and brings it in line with other NI milk buyers after falling significantly behind on price during March.

That March price prompted a chain of events that led to the co-op seeking a new venture or partnership with another milk buyer.

With a deal expected later this year, it is important that LacPatrick keeps its milk pool together. The April top-up is designed to do that, although the co-op has also benefited from improved returns for milk powders in recent weeks.

Elsewhere, Aurivo is also on 26.5p/l, a drop of 0.5p/l from the previous month. It is level on price with LacPatrick, Glanbia Milk, Fivemiletown and Lakeland, while Strathroy is on 26p/l. Out in front for April is Dale Farm, with a base price of 27.5p/l which includes its 0.3p/l loyalty bonus.

Market

In commodity markets, the signs remain positive for improved prices later this year.

At this week’s Dutch auction, a key price barometer for EU dairy markets, butter prices rose by €150/t to break through the €6,000/t barrier. There were also further increases of €20/t and €40/t for whole and skim milk powder (SMP).

Last week’s sale of over 41,000t of SMP from EU intervention stores is also positive news, as this product has been an overhang on the market.

Based on current commodity prices, forecasts for the autumn are that base prices should increase by as much as 2p/l.

Read more

€48.3m of SMP sold out of intervention