Lakeland Dairies has held its milk price for May at 29.7c/l excluding VAT.

In Northern Ireland, a price of 25.25p/l will be paid for May supplies. Again, the base price has been held.

“There continues to be weakness in the European dairy markets driven by the persistently high volumes of product in stock, particularly in the UK. Official European butter prices have hit a four-year low in recent weeks," a spokesperson for the co-op said. “We will continue to closely monitor the market in order to extract the strongest prices for our farmers.”

Kerry announced on Thursday morning that it would pay 28.9c/l excluding VAT for May milk supplies. Similarly, Glanbia announced that it was holding its price for May at 28.9c/l excluding VAT earlier in the week.